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- [00:00]
Michael Popoc
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Michael Popoc
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Michael Popoc
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Mark Kelly
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- [01:31]
Mark Kelly
Hey guys.
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- [02:01]
Michael Popoc
Welcome to the intersection. I'm Michael Popak. The dumpster fire that is the Department of Justice has gotten a lot worse in the last 24 hours, if that is at all possible. I count 10 senior Department of Justice leaders and prosecutors resigning or being fired related to the Trump administration's attempts to either prosecute political rivals or critics or to cover up the stench of yet another scandal, this time involving the murder of a U.S. citizen by an ICE agent. That has led to the wholesale resignation of the Minneapolis U.S. attorney and his two lieutenants. That has led to half a dozen, separately half a dozen senior prosecutors in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, once Proud, once investigated things like the assassination of Martin Luther King and Medgar Evers and the civil rights workers down in Mississippi. How do I know that it's still up on the Civil Rights Division website, even though it's now led by a political hack in Harmeet Dillon, who already has declared that she will not allow her office and its criminal section to investigate and potentially prosecute Jonathan Ross. This is the same Proud office that at one time had successfully prosecuted Derek Chauvin for crushing the life out of George Floyd in Minneapolis as well. I'm going to talk about all the things related to the Department of Justice, this dumpster fire, the new intel that Donald Trump has grown weary of Pam Bondi and will toss her aside, likely for Todd Blanch, the number two in the department as former criminal defense lawyer. We'll talk about the reason that Joe Thompson, the trusted and respected U.S. attorney in Minnesota, resigned even though he was also the federal prosecutor for the crime for the fraud investigation involving welfare and other programs in Minnesota involving, or maybe not involving the Somali community that led to Donald Trump doing the ICE surge that led to the death of Renee Good. But Joe Thompson has had it, this administration. And then we've got Robert K. McBride we hardly knew you came from Tennessee to go babysit Lindsey Halligan in the Eastern District of Virginia and was around long enough to effectively become the de facto U.S. attorney. He just got through meeting with all of the judges in the Eastern District of Virginia, which is the job that a U.S. attorney is supposed to do. But when your U.S. attorney is Lindsey Halligan, who's already been declared to be illegally appointed, then you got to bring in a Bob McBride. And I said, why would he want to do this at the end of his career? To end his career. And now he's been fired because of his refusal to continue to prosecute or go after James Comey. And then attorney general from Minnesota, Keith Ellison, fresh off of an interview that I had with him a day before, filed a federal lawsuit in what I, what I would call in the name and in the memory of Renee Good to stop ICE from continuing to attack brandish firearms in the face of use weapons tackle, gang tackle, lay their hands on US Citizens doing First Amendment protest in Minnesota. It's modeled after a similar suit that was filed in Chicago. And we'll talk about that case as well then. Special guest in my second segment will be Attorney general for California Rob Bonta, who is, I think, going to announce that the 54th case for the Democratic attorneys general have been filed against the Trump administration. He's got a number of wins under his belt. Yes. He's got a legal hot streak against Trump. Can he keep it up? I believe he can. He's leading the charge with the other 22 Democratic attorneys general. He just got an amazing temporary restraining order in New York about child welfare payments being cut off in the middle of the night by the Trump administration. Maybe you should worry less about Chevron and Citgo and the oil companies and he should worry more about the suffering of Americans, especially children whose parents vote. Let's try that and we'll talk about that and other things with AG Bonta. When I think about what I'm going to do on the intersection, you know, I start thinking about it like on the Sunday before. But if I waited, if I did my roster on Sunday, it would be stale already because now I got to talk about not only the Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell having a criminal investigation opened against him, but Jay Powell, who is a very modest, a modest fellow. I mean, and I mean that in the best sense. He's the thing that keeps the American economy tethered to planet Earth. He's the one that's been steering the economy through the turbulent and choppy waters and the prop propeller of the Trump economy successfully. And he didn't just take it lying down. When there was an announcement in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, that a criminal investigation has been opened and subpoenas have been issued by some grand jury in the District of Columbia, this modest chap took to the airwaves and spoke to the American people and more importantly, to the financial markets. And leave it to Jay Powell to not only defend himself, the independence of the Federal Reserve, but also to calm the waters of the financial market. They were like, Jay Powell, what's going to happen? He was like, relax, everybody. I got in almost in this kind of tone. I got this. I didn't do anything wrong. We know what this is all about. This is about the attack on the independence of the Federal Reserve and all. It did that video, what we like to call now Dark J Dark Jay Powell with laser beam eyes has fired back at Donald Trump and everybody has run to his rescue, including Senate Republicans on the Banking Committee who have said they're going to block Donald Trump's Federal Reserve pick, including his chairperson, if he doesn't back off of Jay Powell. Mark Kelly has told Pete Hegseth Senator Mark Kelly he better back off and and the and the claims or the postings in social media by Donald Trump and Pete Exef that Mark Kelly, 25 year veteran of the military, naval aviator, hundred dozens and dozens of missions. The last commander of the Endeavor space shuttle, his wife Gabby Gifford took a bullet for this country as she was campaigning that Mark Kelly should be hanged. Donald Trump's words. He should be tried for war crimes. Pete Hegseth's words and now he's filed a lawsuit first against Hegseth. I want to touch on a couple of other things that have happened as I was preparing to come on tonight, including the transgender high school athlete case before the United States Supreme Court today and a new development in the Epstein files matter in New York. And I'm here at the intersection and so are you. First, I want to do a shout out to the audience without which I don't have a show without which whose fervent support is so appreciated. We have hit and the YouTube rankings which matter in our world for best or the highest ranked YouTube podcasts for the week. In the last week ending we hit number 51. Sometimes we've been as high as number 20. The fact that we're even in the top 100 at all of all podcasts, not just law politics. I think by that contrast we're the we're the number two law and politics the number one being legal af at number 23. I thank each and every one of you and if I could thank each and every one of you personally, you know that I would. I'm we're live tonight as usual. Leave questions for me in the comments. I've got a team standing by. Remember the old Time Life operators when you were going to subscribe? This is where I show my age. Time Life operator standing by Sports Illustrated operators put a question. Somebody on my team will catch it. They'll send it to me. I'll try to answer it at various places. But I'm glad that you're all here. We have a a large crowd of people who want to get into good trouble and I'm here for it and I'm really so ecstatic that you are all too. Let's get to the first topic, the Department of Justice and the dumpster fire so let's do the headcount. Let's start with Joe Thompson in district in the federal district court, a federal district U.S. attorney's office in Minneapolis and Minnesota, sitting in Minneapolis. Joe Thompson, very well respected lifelong prosecutor. He and his two lieutenants resigned and the reason that we've been told, even though he's been relatively silent about his resignation, get this, the Department of Justice in Washington, what we call Main justice, apparently gave Joe Thompson an order that he should investigate criminally the grieving widow of Renee Good, Becca Good, criminally investigator as what a left wing agitator is that under the J.D. vance theory? And he and his two lieutenants who are also involved with the fraud investigation said, we are out of here. There is just some things that a, a prosecutor who has taken an oath not just to the Constitution, but an oath to uphold the principles of federal prosecution, the Department of Justice manual will not do. And every person has to make that decision for themselves. I sit watching who's ever left in the Department of Justice wondering how they can continue to operate within and complicit with the Trump administration. Now, part of me wants them to stay in because part of me wants the good ones to try to rein in Donald Trump from the inside. But that's getting increasingly more difficult when you're given orders like this. Now we know that the Trump administration as part of the stench of this scandal yet another day, another Trump administration scandal and cover up this one to try to change the narrative, to try to make us believe we, to make us believe we shouldn't believe our lying eyes in the videos of what happened in the cold blooded murder shot in the face three times by the ICE agent. We shouldn't believe that. We should believe that somehow Becca Good is a bad person and brought her wife down and she's a bad person and she's been. And they've been radicalized. Radicalized to do what? To blow whistles? To, to dance in their car, honking the horn? To call attention to ISIS out of control rogue conduct against Minnesotans. This is a death sentence. This is a, this is where you get to be judged during an executioner on the streets. In fact, we've got a clip of JD Vance as this administration had moved so rapidly within moments of Renee Good's death to start making a self defense argument for Jonathan Ross, a, a proper use of force argument for Jonathan Ross of blaming the dead victim argument. And here's J.D. vance doing exactly that, talking about the radicalization of this woman who pulled out in an old car with her dog in the back just to protest against ICE as an American citizen. Let's play the clip.
- [14:33]
J.D. Vance
There's a part of me that feels very, very sad for this woman. Not just because she lost her life, but because I think she is a victim of left wing ideology. What young mother shows up and decides they're going to throw their car in front of ICE officers who are enforcing legitimate law? You've got to be a little brainwashed to get to that point to where you're willing not just to protest. That's fine, not peacefully Protestant, but throw your vehicle in front of legitimate law enforcement officers and drive your car into them. To get to that point, you have to be, I think, radicalized in a very, very sad way. I certainly wish that she hadn't got there. I know there's an ICE officer right now who very much wishes he was not put in the position where he had to fire a gun to defend his own life.
- [15:19]
Michael Popoc
Well, we've all seen the video and we all know that that's a bald face lie to the American people and a disqualifier for me and I'm sure many of you, all of you, for J.D. vance to hold high office and to be the President of the United States one day. We know that she didn't drive her car into ice. We know that she didn't move her car into a position to block ICE officers. We've all seen the video. She was there first. She wasn't doing a blockade. If she was doing a blockade, she was doing it poorly because cars were passing behind her and cars were passing in front of her. She was sitting in the car to make a point, to make a protest point. As a US Citizen. The problem is ICE isn't used to working with First Amendment protesters and US Citizens. They're used to throwing migrants to the ground and in the back of U Hauls and doing border control operations. So they're not trained for this. This was, of course, what Donald Trump doesn't care about when he sends 2000. These are all American versus American. This is American versus American crime. You would know it by watching the video you think you're watching. Oh, this happened in Fill in the blank, right? No, this happened in America. So her sitting in a car, JD and bouncing up and down and honking a horn and telling her, her soon to be murderer, bro. I, I, I'm not angry at you. Right. Little did she know that 90 seconds later she'd be shot in the face by people related to that. So this right left wing Agitator thing is what they had. Joe Thompson ordered him to go after Becca Good in order to hold up this narrative, to support this narrative of the Trump administration. Here's what Becca Good had to say about. Let me see if I can find it quickly, how to say about her late wife. If I can grab it, I will. If I can't, I won't. I'm sorry about that. You know, we are live. I can't find him. She hasn't given a public statement other than in writing, basically talking about how there's now one of their three children. You know, this was the mother, were all three children. And now they, they don't have a mom. They're being raised, of course, by, by, by Becca. And who will teach them, those children that there are good people in the world that are trying to make the world better and their mother was one of them. Now, in addition to that, we've got the fallout at the Civil Rights Division criminal section of the Department of Justice. If you read the website and I implore you to go do it because they haven't taken it down yet, it says that they're a proud division created in 1957 to enforce laws on the book since the post Civil War era about discrimination, to make sure that people's civil rights are not violated. And they have a criminal section since 1957 as well. And they bragged about, because it's been up there before Harmeet Dillon, they bragged about all of the civil rights leaders who were slain that they investigated. And Derek Chauvin was one of the people successfully prosecuted under, under the Biden administration for the suffocating death of George Floyd, also in Minneapolis. And now Harmony Dillon, who got the position as civil rights leader, civil rights division leader after, as a consolation prize after she was passed over for attorney general and she was passed over for rnc, Republican National Committee chairperson. She got civil rights that she was given the same mission by Donald Trump that he gave Linda McMahon for the department of Education chloroform. It put it out of business, stop using it, if anything, weaponize it to go after people who are like Becca Good, who are exercising their civil liberties and need protection. So when career prosecutors that are left there and half already left right when Harmeet Dylan was appointed, whatever's left there went to her and said, we want to be involved in the investigation of Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent. And she said, no, we're standing down. We're not going to be involved with that. She's already made her decision. The investigation hasn't even been begun yet. And the FBI has already concluded that this is not a civil rights violation of deprivation of rights against Renee Good. How do they know? They can't even, they can't even watch the video that we've all watched and get that right. So the major, so the career prosecutors, six major leaders in the office were like, that was the final straw. So in the name of Renee Good, they walked out today. And then Yesterday Robert K. McBride, who was this gray hair type, and I can say that because I got gray hair, probably a little older than me, who was a U.S. assistant U.S. attorney in Tennessee, got moved over, volunteered apparently, or got a short straw to go babysit Lindsay Halligan and effectively be the day to day U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. He just got done meeting with all the judges in the Eastern District, which is the job the U.S. attorney does, and he got fired. He was only there like two and a half months. What was, what was his crime? He told, apparently he told them, I'm not going to do the prosecution of James Comey and run the office at the same time. Pick one. And they said, no, you're going to do both. And I think he fought back on the Comey part and he is gone. And they don't seem to care about what this chaos and what this amateur hour, as Senator Tillis called it, is doing to the American confidence if there ever has been this year in the Department of Justice. They don't care. And Donald Trump has cut effectively Pam Bondi. Have you noticed we haven't seen much of Pam Bondi lately? I mean, we haven't seen much of Pam Bondi lately. She's certainly not holding press conferences on things that are allegedly law enforcement. Venezuela, the specialized law enforcement action to enforce an arrest warrant on the Maduro, the Maduro husband and wife. Who's up on the stage during the press conference? Not Pam Bondi. Not the FBI, not Todd Blanche. I see CIA. I see Department of Defense. I see Secretary of State. I see Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. I see President. I don't even see J.D. vance. I certainly don't see anybody from law enforcement. So, okay, let's move forward. What's the next major thing around Epstein and the Epstein scandal and the COVID up and the COVID up of the COVID up as the Department of Justice is used to cover up an international child sex trafficking ring because their felon in chief has a connection to it. Let's leave it at that. So that's going on. And who's the front person for that. It's not, it's not Pam Bondi, not since she said she had all the files on her desk. It hasn't been. It's been Todd Blanche, number two, Donald Trump really trusts. Right. Todd Blanche got him out of all those, all those sticky wickets during the criminal prosecutions. You know, it was Todd Blanche that got him out of Mar A Lago, Todd Blanche that effectively got him out of the New York criminal prosecution. Todd Blanche that got him out of the D.C. election interference case. Todd Blanche that worked on the immunity decision along with John Sauer at the United States Supreme Court. What did, what's the connection with Pam Bondi? She, she made her way through a three ring binder during the impeachment where she could barely read off the page. She's not going to be around much longer. So because. All right, let's do the, let's do my third hypothesis, my third fact to support my hypothesis. Where is Pam Bondi about Renee Good. Where is she? I see J.D. vance, who purportedly has a J.D. from law school, yet he doesn't know the difference between absolute immunity and qualified immunity. When it comes to the immunity that a federal officer has. He doesn't have absolute immunity. You must have, you know, cotton in your ears because your boss has absolute immunity for certain things by way of the Supreme Court. Everybody else has qualified immunity. Right. Even you, J.D. so J.D. vance is out in front a little bit of Todd Blanche, a lot of JD Vance and none of Pam Bundy as her Department of Justice dumpster fire continues. And we had a filing today by, we had a couple of filings today, some of which I can't even, you know, I got to keep the show to like an hour. Marco Rubio files a crazy thing with Judge Boseberg, basically tells him to go F himself, that he's not going to help get 137 people back from Venezuela. And then you've got for due process purposes because he's not really in control of Venezuela. At the same time, Bondi, Halligan and Blanche go after Judge Novak, a Trump appointee, and tell him that he needs to back up and back off because he's gone after Lindsey Halligan impersonating A u a U.S. attorney. And while all that's going on, there are adults, like attorneys general, who are out there doing the people's business. For instance, Keith Ellison in Minnesota has filed in the last 24 hours a new lawsuit to stop the ICE surge, stop the abuse of U.S. citizens and other First Amendment protesters on the streets of Minnesota. Minnesota and here's Keith Ellison at a press conference announcing the lawsuit.
- [25:17]
Keith Ellison
We've come together and we're here to announce a lawsuit we're filing against the United States Department of Homeland Security to end the unlawful unprecedented surge of the federal law enforcement agents into Minnesota. Because this has to stop. It just has to stop. We allege that the obvious targeting of Minnesota for our diversity, for our democracy and our differences of opinion with the federal government is a violation of the Constitution and of federal law. We allege that the surge, reckless impact on our schools, on our local law enforcement is a violation of the 10th Amendment and the sovereign laws and powers of the Constitution grants to states. We allege that DHS's use of excessive and lethal force, their warrantless racist arrests, their targeting of our courts, our churches, houses of worship and schools are a violation of the Administrative Procedures act on arbitrary and capricious federal actions. And we ask that the courts will end the surge of thousands of DHS agents into minutes.
- [26:37]
Michael Popoc
And that was Keith Ellison, who I'll have back on to brief our legal AF audience as well. My producer was able to find the, the statement made by Becca Good, who again, as we said at the top of this intersection, Joe Thompson quit as the Minnesota U.S. attorney. Rather than investigate and or prosecute this poor grieving widow, here's what she had to say about her the loss of her wife. Renee leaves behind three extraordinary children. The youngest is just six years old and already lost his father. I'm now left to raise our son and to continue teaching him as Renee believed, that there are people building a better world for him, that the people who did this had fear and anger in their hearts and we need to show them that a better way. Does that sound like a left wing agitator who's been weaponized and for somebody that J.D. vance should feel sorry for or should the sorrow run the other way? And I'm, I'm going to, we come back from a, a quick break here. We're going to have another leading attorney general, state Attorney General. We're gonna have Rob Bonta come on and brief us about everything that's happening in the world of Attorney generals having to step in against a corrupt and now imploding department of, and winning in the courtrooms on behalf of the American people and the case of, of Ag Bon to the people of the state of California. There's a lot of ways to support what we're doing here. We've already got the audience. We're getting a half a million people or so to watch the show every week. We're now in the top 50 or so of all YouTube podcasts because of you. People know me. I sit at the intersection of law and politics every day. 40 videos a week, if you can believe it. And. And I'm not able to catch up with everything we need to do on Legal AF YouTube channel and on the Midas Touch network. And if you want to support what we do, give us the resources to continue to grow for 2026 and bring on contributors like the American Civil Liberties Union that's now joined Legal AF as a regular contributor about their cases. New podcasts that we've now launched under the Legal AF brand, like Unprecedented about the United States Supreme Court that I do with Dina Dahl once a week. The Court of History with Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz to put everything as best we can into a historical context. Then think about becoming a member, a subscriber of the Legal AF YouTube channel. There it is. We've got a new paid membership which is reasonably priced for those that want to throw their weight behind legal AF. And then of course we've got the legal AF sub stack. We're regularly in the top 10 in rising of all U. S Politics or political substacks. We're doing two, I'm doing two lives, two live reports a day on substack just to keep up and to curate what you need to know. So think about becoming a Legal AF sub stack member as well. And then we've got our our sponsors who some of which have been with us like from the very beginning of Legal IAP six years ago. And some are new either way, they know our point of view. They are in favor of protecting our rule of law and democracy and they appreciate our audience, audiences, First Amendment rights and point of view as well. And here's a word from our sponsors. Delete me makes it easy, quick and safe to remove your personal data online at a time when surveillance and data breaches are common enough to make everyone vulnerable. Look, as someone with an active online presence, privacy is really important to me. I'm constantly thinking about how much of my personal information is just floating around out there. Data brokers make a profit off of your data. Your name, contact info, home address, even details about your family and anyone on the web can buy it. 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Chanel doesn't care about politics, but she has extremely strong opinions about her food. If this show ever runs late, it's because she refuses to let me talk about global affairs until her Smalls cat food is handled first. It's 2026. Do you still feed your cat like it's 1926? This podcast is sponsored by Smalls. Smalls is protein packed cat food made with preservative free ingredients you'd actually recognize, delivered right to Your Door and cats.com named Smalls their best overall cat food. Last time I fed my cat Smalls, she destroyed the bowl and followed me around like I changed her life. I even did a legit taste test. No, not that kind. Two bowls side by side and she immediately chose Smalls. Her fur is softer, her breath is better, and she honestly handles the news better than I do. And Smalls is so confident your cat will love it, you can try it risk free. They'll refund you if your cat won't eat it. Make 2026 your cat's healthiest year ever for a limited time because you are a legal AF listener. Get 60% off your first order plus free shipping when you head to smalls.com legal AF one last time. 60% off your first order plus Free shipping when you head to smalls dot com legal A F and thank you to our sponsors. But now I am so honored to have the California Attorney General, Rob Bonta join us. Attorney General Bonta, how are you this evening?
- [33:05]
Rob Bonta
Hey Michael. Doing great and better now that I'm with you.
- [33:08]
Michael Popoc
Yeah, I feel the same way. Although you broke, you broke my heart and those of many who watch because I think there's been a public announcement about your your immediate futures. Am I right that you've decided that you're not going to run for the California governorship.
- [33:24]
Rob Bonta
That's correct. I am running for reelection as California attorney general. In this, in these difficult, challenging times, with so much on the line, so much at stake, I think my place is here on the front lines in this moment, battle tested and ready for whatever comes next to protect our people and build a legal fortress around them to protect their rights and freedoms. And this administration, as we have seen and we're about to talk about, has showed not only no signs of slowing down, but signs of escalation of raising the stakes.
- [33:54]
Michael Popoc
So absolutely glad that you either decision would have been great for the American people and for the people of the state of California, but so pleased and honored to have you here on the front lines leading along with the 22 other Democratic attorneys general. I don't know if you got to see. I'm sure you've been following your colleague Keith Ellison in Minnesota. We were all together in Phoenix recently for interviews. I had Keith on a couple of days ago. I'll have him back. What you've. You've pitched your own battles about the National Guard and, and other federalized troops of Donald Trump on the streets of California and successfully won that all the way up to the Supreme Court. What. Just let's kick it off with that since it's so fresh. What, what's your observations about the new lawsuit that Keith has filed, sort of patterned over one that was filed in Illinois about ice on the streets and the importance of the attorneys general in filing such lawsuits against the federal government?
- [34:56]
Rob Bonta
Yeah, I'm really proud of AG Ellison, AG Raul, my colleagues, my friends, proud to call them, both in Illinois and in Minnesota, standing up and pushing back against the unlawful actions of President Trump. We have shown time and time again for California, it's been 54 times in less than a year that when we fight, we win. When we stand against an injustice and we speak up and speak out and take action and go to court and hold this administration accountable to the law and to the facts, we win. And our people deserve that. And the people of Illinois and Minnesota should be very proud of their two AGs, just like I am for fighting. And this is what we've done over the last. It hasn't even been a full year yet. Coming up on a year time and time again, in case after case, watching, monitoring, observing, tracking every action that this administration takes. And of course, permitting and allowing, as, as we must, the administration to do things that are lawful, that are within his actual authority, but never, ever letting him do things outside of his authority, never allowing him to act unlawfully and hurt the people of our states. We've been a bulwark, a check. We are battle tested on the front lines, in the trenches, meeting him every time he tries to cross the boundary and cross the line into unlawful action and pushing him back in to his actual given authority. And we're going to continue to do that. And you know, he has a very difficult relationship with both the facts and the law, especially having heard his statements about sanctuary cities today. So we know we're going to be busy in the years ahead. But we're grateful for what we've accomplished. We wish we wouldn't. He didn't have to do it. But if sue the president because he's unlawful, we must then sue him. We will.
- [36:37]
Michael Popoc
And I, and I heard coming on the air that, that you last time we were together, which was just a couple of weeks ago, we were talking about crossing the 50th case threshold. I've been told that. I think today you filed your 54th.
- [36:50]
Rob Bonta
54Th today.
- [36:52]
Michael Popoc
And what is that and what is that case about?
- [36:55]
Rob Bonta
That's about the Trump administration's imposition of an improper condition on funding to states that requires those states to certify essentially the erasure of the existence of transgender, gender, non conforming, non binary Americans and to adopt a view of the law that is not the actual law. It's just this administration's improper, unlawful, frankly inhumane, cruel and wrong interpretation of what the law should be when it's not. And they're trying to impose conditions on us to shove a hateful agenda down our throat. And we won't stand for it. We won't allow it. So we sued in the District of Rhode island today in multiple states based on that condition of funding, saying that it's unlawful, it violates the separation of powers because the Trump administration cannot rewrite Title nine and also the Administrative Procedures act as well. And it poses a condition that's arbitrary and capricious and provides no rationale for why it's a different condition than the prior interpretation of Title ix. So multiple causes of action, but essentially we are going after the Trump administration for unlawfully trying to attack transgender Americans.
- [38:16]
Michael Popoc
And the timing is so perfect given today's oral argument at the United States Supreme Court about, about Becky Pepper's attempt as a 15 year old started as an 11 year old. She's the only openly transgender high school student in West Virginia. The entirety of the West Virginia legislative apparatus and governor and MAGA have all Come after this poor girl. And today, today, argued by the American Civil Liberties Union, who's now collab, you know, collaborating with us on legal layoff. You know, they. They hit the headwinds of the right. The. The ultra right wing of the Supreme Court, who, you know, as soon as you hear Kavanaugh crying again about coaching his daughter's middle school basketball game like he did during the confirmation hearing, you know, with those crocodile deers, you know, you're in trouble, you know, and, you know, and the facts. They were trying to make it just about her. And the facts are she took puberty blockers, and she never went through adult. She never went through boy puberty, ever. She is a transgender girl. All she wants to do is, like, throw the shot put. I mean, and the other person that. The other case, the Hecox case, which is, as far as I'm concerned, mute because she's no longer in college and doesn't want to pursue the case any longer. She didn't even make her NCAA team. She made her club team. I. I mean, the numbers here ag bonta for people to see what a wedge issue and political pawn the Trump administration of MAGA have made of this. This. This fragile group, this disadvantaged group that has no political power, has no protection. I mean, other than what you do. You know, they don't have, like, large groups of voters or people in Congress. We have one openly transgender person in Congress and this and that. You know, out of 500,000n double NCAA student athletes, 10 are openly transgender. And yet, you see what. You know, it started with gays in the military and then gay marriage and then abortion, and then. And then. And then when they. They. You know, they either vanquished all of those or. Or. Or couldn't or. The American people said, no, we're in gay marriage. No, we're okay with that. They were like, who can we pick on? Who can we exploit for political gain? Oh, the transgender population.
- [40:33]
Rob Bonta
It's hard to see, and, you know, this. But what is inspiring to see is this young woman's courage in the face of so much cruelty from adults who are playing politics and targeting her and going after her. And she just wants to be a member of the team and do the thing that she loves and be an athlete and the lack of humanity and the cruelty in it. And, you know, to. As you mentioned, the numbers, I think it's 1% of all student athletes across the country are transgender or less. But they try to use it as a wedge issue to attack and turn it into a political weapon. But I think these people need to check their humanity and.
- [41:17]
Michael Popoc
Check it or find it.
- [41:19]
Rob Bonta
They have to find it. They checked it at the door. They need to do some difficult searching to find it and bring it back.
- [41:26]
Michael Popoc
Kavanaugh kept talking about what, oh, the poor girl at birth who won't be able to be on the team because she's gonna get kicked out. I'm like, what about the transgender middle school student that wants to participate in sport? There's not enough transgender people to have like a transgender league.
- [41:48]
Rob Bonta
Right.
- [41:48]
Michael Popoc
I mean, so, so, so they're just denied all of the benefits. So sociological and psychological benefits, emotional benefits of being in a team sport or on a sport. Because Kavanaugh creates a hypothetical about somebody who's been bounced from a team because, you know, some, you know, they always have the imagery, you know, the Iranian boxer or the, you know, some ridiculous picture that goes up on the Internet. And they, they never focus on the 11 year old who just wants to like, run cross country, be part of.
- [42:21]
Rob Bonta
The team, learn how to win, learn how to lose, learn how to, you know, reach a goal and work towards it with, with, with friends and teammates. I mean, I did team sports my whole life. My daughter is a professional athlete. She played professional soccer. My daughter in law is a professional soccer player. And that what you learn in sports and, you know, most people will never be professionals. And, and most of the lessons that you learn are just through participation, you know, working with your fellow students, your classmates, your teammates, and learning how to support them and help them when they're down and boost them when they're up and overcome adversity. And they're just really going out of their way with their cruelty to target children. It's disgusting and gross to see adults do that and try to rationalize it from the bench or from the governor's office or the legislature, whatever it is. It's hard to see. It just makes me stronger and makes me more committed, more resolute, more immovable in my commitment to protect the law and protect those who are victims of abuse.
- [43:24]
Michael Popoc
Sure. We can't get you to be governor, not this cycle.
- [43:28]
Rob Bonta
We'll see what the future holds. I am, I would be honored to serve as four more years as AG and do my best for the people here and across the country.
- [43:36]
Michael Popoc
Many of the cases I've learned from you and the other attorneys general are where you've been successful in making sure that funding a lot of dollars at stake in a lot of your cases, funding that would have been that the Fuel supply of funding that would have been cut off between the federal government through Donald Trump and the states and state programs that matter. And, and many of it, even though you're arguing on behalf of the blue states and you have no red state colleagues next to you, shoulder to shoulder, ultimately can benefit them as well. You just got a temporary restraining order in New York about child welfare. Why don't you talk to our audience a little bit about that case?
- [44:15]
Rob Bonta
Yeah, great case, that, in terms of the success, terrible case. In terms of what the Trump administration was trying to do, you know, starting the new year, the way they ended it, with lawlessness and cruelty, going after our most vulnerable Californians, trying to withhold $10 billion of funding from five states. Guess who they are. They're all blue states. New York, Illinois, California, Minnesota and Colorado, all of with whom Trump has a beef and is disappointed that they didn't vote for him. And so he tried to withhold critical safety net funding, funding for childcare, funding for social services, funding for job training and employment, housing, food, emergency relief from children, from families, from seniors, from the disabled who need it, based on an unsubstantiated, empty, baseless allegation of fraud and at the same time, asking for documents from each of these states to see if they're. I presumably see if there is any fraud. So they have the conclusion first that there's fraud and they've taken the action to block all the funding, $10 billion worth, and to hurt vulnerable Americans in the process. And then they're going to start looking into whether or not there's any fraud, which there will. There is no allegation, proof, evidence, shred of evidence of any fraud. They didn't even bother to suggest any. They just put out the phrase, just like they use waste, fraud and abuse and use that as their justification to do anything they want without any facts to back it. So we moved for a temporary restraining order, and the next day we got one, and the court gave us complete temporary relief for two weeks while the preliminary injunction is being considered, where the funding must flow and the request, a very unreasonable request for documents and interviews, all which realistically, really couldn't be completed within the timeframe, nor should we have to go through it. That was blocked as well. So complete early victory in the case. As you know, a temporary restraining order requires the determination of likelihood of success on the merits and irreparable harm. And so we feel we're in a good place, as this case begins, with this early win and hopefully with more to come.
- [46:41]
Michael Popoc
And that one's. That one just an inside baseball thing. You got kind of a emergency duty judge to enter that temporary restraining order. That's how strong the papers were. But it then gets transferred over, I think, to Judge Broderick or another full time judge to handle the case. Is that right?
- [46:59]
Rob Bonta
I think that's right.
- [47:02]
Michael Popoc
Yeah. And. And there's even been cases where for the. To give our audience hope, where the Trump administration has folded, where they just, you know, they've just withdrawn appeals and walked away from the fight over the money. You want to. Why don't you give an example of that? That happened recently with one of your suits.
- [47:23]
Rob Bonta
Yeah. You know, we will take a win in any form. It could be a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction, more and more permanent injunctions, after trials or after summary judgment motions that consider all the facts. And then, you know, and sometimes we get the confirmation or the affirmation at the appellate level, and then even the Supreme Court, and sometimes the Trump administration just backs down, they raise the white flag, they throw in the towel and they say, you got us, you win, we lose, we give up. And that happened today on an appeal on funding that the Trump administration tried to withhold. Department of Transportation funding that keeps planes in the air and cars on the road. We had one in the trial court below based on this being an improper attempt to coerce California's policy when it comes to what the Trump administration calls sanctuary jurisdictions, and we call them pro public safety and pro community trust jurisdictions. And we got a court order below. They appealed, and then they indicated today that they're gonna dismiss their appeal. They're giving up. They're not gonna continue to push here. They lost. So we'll get that funding. Just as we got Department of Homeland Security funding that was also being leveraged by the Trump administration based on our, what they call our sanctuary status. And just as we got Victims of Crime Act VOCA funding, twice that the Trump administration tried to withhold, they gave up on that as well. That was another example that Victims of Crime act funding, where they raised the white flag and threw in the towel and gave up. So we'll take the W anyway. We get it. Not because it's a W, but because it means we get the funding and the people, the victims of crime, the passengers on the road or in the air, the folks that could be victims of cybersecurity or terrorism are benefiting. And that's what we want, and that's what we want to deliver. That's what we got here.
- [49:23]
Michael Popoc
And most of your cases. I mean, you're only a year in, because we're only a year into the administration, which is not a long period of time for a life cycle of a case. But you've got permanent wins in, like, I don't even know what the 25 out of the 54, something like that, you already have in the bank permanently, not to be challenged ever again as you continue along in, let's say, the other 20 or 30 cases who. Who need to be progressed further, some of which has been filed in the last month or two. So an extraordinary winning track record on behalf of the people of California and throughout the country. And for. For those that are joining sort of in progress, I think it's important for them to know how closely the Democratic attorneys general work together. It's not just you alone. That's why there's so many attorneys general joining together and states joining together in these cases. Talk just a little briefly about, without giving away the trade secrets, briefly about how. How the coordination among all of you happen, both because of personal relationships that have been developed and your stabs about opposing the Trump administration where it's necessary.
- [50:38]
Rob Bonta
Yeah. The 23 Democratic attorneys general are working every day together on behalf of the people of our. Our respective states, collectively, the people of our nation, to hold the Trump administration accountable. So we're always sharing information, sharing intel, sharing legal insight, strategy, thoughts on suits. To bring one example is California was the first state where the National Guard was unlawfully deployed, and we met the Trump administration in court, and then the same thing happened in D.C. then in Illinois, then in Oregon, and we shared our information with all those states. We talked about, you know, we shared our briefs, and we shared our thoughts and we shared our strategy, and we shared what the federal government would argue. And, you know, I think that helped those other states. And we have been communicating and working together and planning and preparing and strategizing since before the election of President Trump and then after his election and before his inauguration, and then every day since his inauguration. At the staff level and at the attorney general level, being in close contact, we feel that we are able to deliver more as a whole than we. Than some of our parts, and that we have created something special. We like each other, Michael. We like our fellow AGs. You know, we enjoy each other's company. And, you know, sometimes when the stakes are really high, you gotta have some humor and some humanity as well. And we have all that. We have rapport with one another, with deep respect for one another, and we feel that we're all Part of a team fighting on behalf of the people of our state, protecting democracy, the rule of law, rights and freedoms in some really important battles with a lot on the line.
- [52:26]
Michael Popoc
And that makes our audience feel a lot better knowing that there's that union, that collegiality that you're all vibrating on the same frequency to protect their rights. You're running collectively the largest law firm, you know, dedicated to public interest in the country. And you're up against a depleted, woefully understaffed Department of Justice, which is getting smaller and shrinking by the hour.
- [52:55]
Rob Bonta
Not complaining about that.
- [52:58]
Michael Popoc
You'll take it. You'll, you'll take it. And, and we're so pleased to have you here. Attorney General Rob Bonta for the state of California running for re election at the midterms. And I'm glad he's not going anywhere. I'm sure our audience is thrilled to have you here and thank you for being here. And please come back and update us on the, the 55th case forward against Trump.
- [53:21]
Rob Bonta
We'll do hope to come back soon. Appreciate you so much, Michael.
- [53:23]
Michael Popoc
You too.
- [53:24]
Rob Bonta
All your audience.
- [53:25]
Michael Popoc
Thank you. Thank you, Attorney General Banta. And we are back. And thank you all for being here. Let me, let me segue into the Federal Reserve Jay Powell lawsuit. No prosecution. That's the wrong word. And how it's already backfired in less than 24 hours against Donald Trump. He had this in his hand. This shows you the mental collapse of Donald Trump that continues. You know, where he's busy. You know, somebody hands him a secret memo or note, like Marco Rubio in a meeting with the oil executives. Oh, hold on. Marco just sent me something. Hold on. They want to talk about Chevron. I have no idea what that means. You know, this is what we're watching. And when you're watching that in action, Donald Trump had this in his hand. Jay Powell was going to step down in, in May of this year because that was when his term as chairperson was over. He may have even stepped down to leave the, the Board of Governors. His term for the entire Board of Governors runs until 2028. And he had a process, Trump, to pick somebody else. I don't like the process, including going to private equity and hedge funds in New York trying to find people who are woefully unqualified to be macroeconomists to run the Federal Reserve and have never been a central banker before or anywhere on the central bank. Like, why don't you take one of the presidents of one of the regional Federal Reserves you know, why are you reaching into some small shop in New York to run, pardon me, everybody to run the Federal Reserve. But, but he had a process and he was going to appoint somebody and nominate them in the next week or two. No, he had to do a final trolling of Jay Powell to get him back, obviously for him being embarrassed in public at the construction site when he went down there with Tim Scott. We've all seen the video. I don't need to play it again. Donald Trump has Tim Scott hand him another piece of paper. Donald Trump loves being handed pieces of paper and showing them off. New York Times interview. It's like Columbia's president's on the phone. You can stay. You know, he's like so nuts. Belongs in a home, not the White House. So, you know, Tim Scott hands it to him as well. You know, Jay, you're, you're over, you're, you're over by $2 billion. Sorry. Yeah. These are your own. This is from the Federal reserve. I'm sorry, Mr. President, I'm not aware of that, that, that, that number doesn't seem right. Yeah, well, it's right here. It's one of your own pieces of paper. And Jay Powell takes it and puts on his readers and his cheaters. And he's got his hard hat on and neither of these two guys should be wearing hard hats, if you know what I mean. And he looks at, it goes, this, this involves an entirely different project from five years ago. You've added on an entirely different project because they're renovating 100 year old building, 200 year old buildings I'm talking about, that have not been renovated since the 1930s, a little bit less than 100 years. That means heating, air conditioning, electrical lead contamination, asbestos contamination. You know, this is a sick building that people are working in. And he is taking it on post Covid, when construction prices have gone through the roof, through logistics and after. And during the Trump tariff era. So of course it's gone over budget. $700 million. Donald Trump's ballroom doubled in price on the, on the wreckage of the East Wing. Is it criminal? And because, but he didn't like the fact that he added in the other building next door. That was done five years ago for the total, the total budget. So he announces, they let it leak that the D.C. office of the prosecutor, you know, Jeanine Pirro has a grand jury issuing subpoenas to the Federal Reserve about the construction, the construction cost overruns and whether Jay Powell lied under oath. Now we're back to the same thing they went after James Comey for what we call a 1002 charge for lying under oath to Congress in response to questions from, like Tim Scott again and other people about the, the cost of the development, of the, of the renovation. So Donald Trump's like, well, let's just, you know, and then he's got his resident scent hound, pit bull Bill Pulte, the Nepo baby from the Pulte Construction fortune in the south, who runs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who goes after all of Donald Trump's political enemies with mortgage fraud allegations to claim that there's some sort of fraud here, part of that conspiracy. So they do it. But what they didn't expect and they thought that, well, Jay's a very modest person. True. He's a very soft spoken person. True. But you don't want to get his dander or his Irish up, as people like to say. And this very modest person did a very UNJ Powell thing the night when this all leaked two days ago. And they, in the Trump administration miscalculated about the steely resolve of the Federal Reserve chairman picked by Donald Trump, who has been keeping our economy and navigating our economy through troubled waters created by Donald Trump for this year and, you know, since 2017. And they didn't think he would fire back and call out Donald Trump and speak to the financial markets and calm them at the same time and bring to his side with a rallying cry, not only the central bankers around the world, more than 20 of them, joining together in a way they've never done before to support the integrity of the Federal Reserve, not only because they like Jay Powell, but because they need the United States as the standard bearer for the world's economies to not be undermined by Donald Trump. They don't want the US Dollar undermined. They don't want the Treasuries and the price of treasury bills and notes to be undermined, as the US Debt is the largest in the world. And so they need to keep him in his seat and shout out to the Maple Midas, shout out to Canada as Canada oft maligned, disrespected, degraded by Donald Trump's attacks, you know, disrespecting their investments in America, their investments in tourism, in capital, in real estate, in the, in the trade that keeps our economy humming, in rare earth minerals and natural resources and electricity and the rest. Leave it to Canada and the Canada's central bank to step forward and support Jay Powell. But that's not all that supported Jay Powell. The Republicans on The Senate Banking Committee, including outgoing, but not outgoing fast enough. Senator Tillis is supporting Jay Powell. And I'll tell you what that means in terms of any opening, like the chairmanship on the Federal Reserve. But I want you to see Jay Powell in action. Let me just play the part of his video where he says what this is really about. Let's play the clip.
- [60:54]
Jay Powell
The renovation project. Those are pretexts. The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President. This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions, or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation. I have served at the Federal Reserve under four administrations, Republicans and Democrats alike. In every case, I have carried out my duties without political fear or favor, focused solely on our mandate of price stability and maximum employment. Public service sometimes requires standing firm in the face of threats. I will continue to do the job the Senate confirmed me to do with integrity and a commitment to serving the American people. Thank you.
- [61:55]
Michael Popoc
And let me look at the guy. He's wearing like a taupe suit, a tan suit and a maroon tie. It's a guy that you pass them on the street, you wouldn't look twice. He runs as the central banker. The world's largest and most important economy does it well, doesn't need this. But takes public service seriously. And he's going to stay in his job and he's not going to leave early, as you, as you can tell, not with this, this shade having been put on him. And now the Senate Republicans that matter here are fighting back. And it's not just Murkowski and Collins and. But it's others. It's crepo in Idaho. It's Tillis on the Banking Committee. Now, the Banking Committee in the Senate oversees the Federal Reserve. It's the committee that confirmed that. That with the advice and consent that confirms or has to confirm a nominee. Okay. It's made up of 13 Republicans now and 11 Democrats, if you get one to switch. Untilis has already said he will not vote to confirm anyone that Donald Trump puts up for the Federal Reserve, including the chairmanship position, until they end the investigation of Jay Powell, plain and simple. And if he moves from 13 to 12 each, we've got an impasse. Somebody asked in the chat tonight, what happens then. What happens is Jay Powell stays in his chairperson because Donald Trump can't get another one confirmed. He'll just he'll just extend his time and he'll be the de facto chairperson now. So all Donald Trump had to do was shut his, you know what? Mouth, which he's incapable of doing, and just let his, his hand play out and he would have gotten exactly what he wanted. And ultimately he may have even gotten the, that fourth seat of the seven on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in order to take control ultimately of the Open Markets Committee and the interest rate setting mechanism of the Federal Reserve. Because the Federal Reserve only has one blunt force instrument at its disposal. Really. That's it. Interest rate setting. That's it. And, and, and through that one dial, that one switch, it tries to create maximum job jobs, you know, low, low unemployment and, and low inflation and tries to balance those two things with interest rates. So what Donald Trump miscalculated is how many of Senate Republicans and House Republicans would peel away from him over and choose Jay Powell's side. And they have because Donald Trump's time is running out here and it's running short. And if the Epstein scandal taught us anything, it's that some MAGA have realized that their political fortunes and time horizon is longer than Donald Trump's and they better start making some changes. I want to move on lastly and talk about the Mark Kelly lawsuit. So Mark Kelly is been a senator for the last four or five years, had served this country honorably, 25 years in the military, rising to the level of captain, 39 missions, I think in battle as a naval 80 aviator is every, he has every cluster and ribbon and metal that you can think of for that position. He was shuttle commander, I think four times and the last flying of the endeavor. His wife, Gabby Gifford, who many people think should be in the Senate herself running for that position or for reelection, was shot in the head during a campaign 20 or more years ago and left brain damage. Still alive, still vibrant, still fighting for gun control. But this is the family. His brother is also an astronaut, Naval aviator and the whole thing. Pete Hegseth, after the video went out in which about 20 different members of Congress who were also in the military, veterans and, or in the intelligence community, they made a video reminding members of service people that they have a constitutional oath to defend the Constitution and not to follow illegal orders and not to give up the ship because he, well, why, because we have an erratic, crazy president who's given out all sorts of crazy orders through Pete Hegseth, you know, who used to be, before he became the Secretary of defense, was on the junior varsity of Fox and Friends. He wasn't even on the. He wasn't even on the week, the Weekday Edition. He was on the Weekend Edition and did the ball drop during the New Year's. And now he's your Secretary of War. And they didn't like the fact that Senator Kelly participated in that statement about you. Under the Nuremberg principles, you can't just follow orders that are illegal. You know, we saw that with the Nazis. Right. And so Pete Hegseth and Trump almost simultaneously, like in a call and response on social media, Trump went so far as to say that Mark Kelly should be hanged. Hanged. George Washington would hang him. And that Pete Hegseth suggested in a no, said it in a censure letter to Mark Kelly, that he has potentially committed war crimes by making this video or participating in this video. Mark Kelly is fired back with his own federal lawsuit to stop the censure, to stop any criminal charges, and to explain to the American people that his legislative authority and powers, First Amendment rights and rights under the speech and debate privilege, are being compromised on purpose by Donald Trump. Because Mark Kelly helps provide oversight to Donald Trump and his rogue and lawless administration through the various committees that he's on, the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee. These are all committees that are looking at the National Guard being illegally deployed, the takeover of the Venezuelan oil fields by Donald Trump, the threats and saber rattling on places like Cuba and Greenland. This is all part of the oversight of our checks and balance. It is. In 250 years, we've never had a president go after a member of Congress, a senator, and try to. And try to chill his First Amendment speech, his legislative privilege and powers of oversight. And he wants a federal judge to declare that. And I think he's right. And here's a clip from Senator Kelly talking about his lawsuit.
- [69:17]
Mark Kelly
You have now turned Pete Hegseth into.
- [69:20]
Michael Popoc
A defendant where through this process, he's going to have to defend what he.
- [69:26]
Mark Kelly
Has done so far. And in my reading of the law, as your lawyer stated in this complaint.
- [69:32]
Michael Popoc
He has violated the law that he.
- [69:36]
Mark Kelly
Claims his action is based on. Well, Lawrence, thank you for having me on. I want to commend you for the great summary of the lawsuit. And I also want to say, hey, I told these guys, I told Donald Trump, and I told Pete Hegseth that I'm not backing down, I'm not going away. This is much bigger than me. I flew dozens of combat missions over Iraq and Kuwait, got shot at, nearly shot down multiple times. I flew in space on the space shuttle four times. I've served this country for 25 years. I did not expect that after all of that service and then continuing my service in the United States Senate, that I would one day have to sue the Secretary of Defense for violating my constitutional rights, my rights of freedom of speech, but also due process and separation of powers rights. But, you know, this is much bigger than me. What I really worry about are the other veterans out there, you know, that don't have a platform like I do, don't have the right to speak on the Senate floor. Where are they going to be with this administration if they decide to speak out? So, you know, that's really the reason for my action today. I had to file this lawsuit because I need to be standing up for all Americans, not just myself.
- [71:05]
Michael Popoc
And we're glad that he's doing that. Any one of these cases that I've talked about tonight would have been enough for an entire episode. But I like, I'll just give you an example. Like today, in doing my programming for the Legal AF YouTube channel and for Midas, I did a collective nine videos about independent stories that have happened in the last 24 hours. In addition to that, I worked in, in the last 24 hours, an interview with Senator Warner about what he's doing from the Senate side and on the intelligence community and as part of the Gang of Eight that that's supposed to be consulted by the Trump administration about all things foreign and global. And an interview today with Richie Torres, the representative from New York, about some new legislation that he's proposing. Now, my point is there's a lot of information that is out there. You see how the Trump administration left to their own devices. Their natural instinct is to lie to the American people, even about video facts that you and I and the rest of our audience can see with our, with our own eyes. And they tell us that, that, you know, what we see is not true. And here is, and here is the new narrative we want you to adopt in order to hold on and to understand what's going on and to be able to debate with your friends and your family and your loved ones and, and, and steel yourself for the election. You have to be, I think, on channels like minus touch on Legal AF YouTube channel, watching our content here on the Legal AF sub stack and becoming members there. Because there's just, even for me, and I'm a professional, not only my professional lawyer for 35 years, but I'm a professional political and legal commentator. Having, you know, doing this for, doing this for a long time before your very eyes, with Midas and Legal af. And it's hard for me to catch up, which is why we have, of course, other commentators and other and other people and playlists that help us capture it all. But at any given day, today alone, there were, I'm just talking today, there were no less than seven different court filings that I thought mattered. Some didn't make the cut because, you know, I gotta, otherwise the show would be two or three hours long. If you want the show to be two or three hours long, put it, put it in comments and I'll talk to my producers. But seven filings and then all the other things that aren't filings, you know, like the developments in cases or Department of Justice senior leadership standing up finally to the Trump administration about under the banner of honoring the memory of Renee Good, who got up in the morning on January 7th and never came home because she was a First Amendment protester about and a patriot and was shot and killed by federal forces that are allied with Donald Trump. And they're Americans too, by the way. I'm not saying everybody in ICE and Border Patrol and law enforcement is bad, quite the opposite. But you got to start thinking about the administration that you're working for, the boss you're working for like Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi and, and Donald Trump and the others. And you have to look yourself in the mirror every day. Now, I know it's tough because you have your own families and you have your own career goals and you have your own pensions to think about. But sometimes, you know, I've taken enough career leaps in my own life where I wasn't sure there was, you know, a lily pad after I took the leap because I wanted to accomplish something such as this. When I made the decision about a year ago to leave the full time practice of law, I still do. I still do a practice. We've got the Popoc firm, we do a lot of work for people around the country and personal injury and the like. But kind of the day to day running my cases the way I had in the past to devote myself full time to this. And you see why it just, I mean, it would be professional malpractice for me not to be prepared for the show, not to do the videos that we do because I feel this is the moment where only working together, only working together as citizens, as people around the world and in the United States can we together bend the arc of history towards justice. And we've got to do that working together. And I'm glad you're here on the intersection. Thank you for being such fervent supporters of us. We'll see you next Tuesday. In the meantime, also remember, Wednesdays and Saturdays are the Are the Legal AF podcast. And then of course we've got all of our great work over on the Legal AF YouTube channel. So until my next report, shout out to the Midas Mighty and the Legal af'. Ers. Can't get your fill of Legal af. Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF Substack. Every time we mention something in a hotel Hot take. Whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do called, Wait for it Morning af. What else? All the other contributors from Legal A for there as well. We got some new reporting, we got interviews, we got ad free versions of the podcast and hot takes where Legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.
- [76:42]
MIDI Health representative
This podcast is supported by Midi Health Are you in midlife? Feeling dismissed, unheard or just plain tired of the old health care system? You're not alone. For too long, women's serious midlife health issues have been trivialized, ignored and met with a just deal with it attitude. Many of us have been made to feel ashamed or forgotten. In fact, even today, 75% of women seeking care for menopause and perimenopause issues are left entirely untreated. But here's the powerful truth. It's time for a change. It's time for miti. Mitti is not just a health care provider. It's a woman's telehealth clinic founded and supported by world class leaders in women's health. What sets MIDI apart? We are the only women's telehealth brand covered by major insurance companies, making high quality, expert care accessible and affordable. Our clinicians provide one on one face to face consultations where they truly listen to your unique needs. We offer a full range of holistic, data driven solutions from hormonal therapies and weight loss protocols to lifestyle coaching and preventative health guidance. This isn't one size fits all care. This is care uniquely tailored for you. At miti, you will join our patients who feel seen, heard and prioritized. You will find that our mission is clear to help all women thrive in midlife, giving them access to the health care they deserve. Because we believe midlife isn't the middle at all. It is the beginning of your second act. Ready to feel your best and write your second act script. Visit joinmidi.com today to book your personalized insurance covered virtual visit. That's joinmitty.com midi the care women deserve.