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- [00:00]
Mint Mobile Advertiser
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Legal AF Host
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Mint Mobile Advertiser
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Legal AF Host
Look at him.
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Legal AF Contributor
Eating whatever he wants, never gaining a pound. Well, I'm stuck with the boring special and can't lose an ounce.
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Legal AF Host
How's your lunch, man? Amazing. Yours?
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Guest Commentator
So good.
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Legal AF Host
Oh, I'm so happy for you. Cool, buddy.
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So same time next week? No, Definitely.
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Odoo Advertiser
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Grow Therapy Advertiser
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- [03:17]
Legal AF Host
Let's get behind the headlines of Donald Trump short circuiting literally on his Air Force One on the way to Davos and just getting out of the country because he's a coward old yellowstain and leaving Lindsey Halligan to resign in disgrace after being slam by back to back federal orders and the last 24 hours all against her to end her masquerading, as one judge said, her impersonating of a U.S. attorney. Sure, you've heard she's resigned. But let's, let's talk about the bigger picture and the broader picture. First of all, Donald Trump's a coward. Can we all agree on that? He leaves Lindsey Halligan twisting in the wind to resign in disgrace after these back to back orders where she just barely avoids getting sanctioned by a federal judge to have her law license taken away. And Donald Trump's off to Davos. That's one. Also, Lindsey Halligan now joins a growing list of Donald Trump's political hacks that can't stay in the chair as US Attorneys around the country and have had to resign or have been and or been fired. It's not just Lindsey Halligan. It's Alina Haba set the template. She got blocked by the two senators who are Democrats in New Jersey. She'll never get she knew she was never going to get confirmed. A federal judge found, much like they just found with Lindsey Halligan, that she was improperly, illegally appointed under the Vacancy Reform Act. She resigned a few days later. Julianne Murray, a political hack who used to be the Republican chairperson in Delaware, she resigned because she knew she was never going to get the job. Then you've got two others. The one in Nevada, Segal Chatta, got bounced by a federal judge. It's up on appeal. She's going to lose. Bill Essaly in Los Angeles, same thing. Fired guy from New Mexico, same thing. John Sarcone iii. He just got bounced three weeks ago by Judge Schofield in the Southern District of New York. And he's going to lose his appeal also. So that's the backdrop that you analyze. What, Lindsay, what happened with Lindsey Halligan right now. I also learned that Pam Bondi can't write a note to the public. I was 4, 4/5 through her announcement. I had to read it twice to realize that Lindsey Halligan had been fired or andor had resigned. When you're that poor of a writer, you know there's a problem. So like I'm reading just, just to give you an example. So I'm like reading through this and here's, here's what I come up with. Right. Again, I have no idea from. There's no topic sentences, you know, as I was taught to write in middle school. During her 120 day tenure as interim United States Attorney, Lindsey Halligan served with the utmost distinction and unwavering commitment to the rule of law. So I saw past tense. So I figured maybe Lindsey Halligan is not going to make it by prosecuting. And then she goes on bragging about Lindsey Halligan, that Democratic senators weaponized the blue blue slip process and blocked her and that her and that her term expired. I'll talk about that. Hold that point. Despite multiple unnecessary legal obstacles placed in her path, Lindsey stepped forward at this critical juncture. And then I get to the part finally when I realize Lindsey Halligan is no longer with the Department of Justice. While we will feel her absence keenly, we are confident that she will continue to serve her country in other ways. Okay, she can't write a paragraph. Lindsey Halligan's gone to Donald Trump. He didn't even realize what had happened. So back in November, a federal judge appointed by the Chief Judge of the Fourth Circuit, Judge Diaz, appointed Judge Curry from South Carolina to avoid any conflicts. Because if there's a vacancy, the judges of the Eastern District appoint the replacement. So they gave it to a South Carolina judge to make a decision for the entire district about whether Lindsey Halligan was legally or illegally appointed under the Constitution and under Section 546, the Vacancy Reform Act. And she determined in a 25 page opinion that Lindsey Halligan was illegally appointed, that there had already been one 120 day interim U.S. attorney under the statute. His name is Eric Seibert. He was a Republican. He didn't want to prosecute Letitia James Or James Comey. So he got fired by Donald Trump. That's it. After that, the vacancy has to be filled either by the first assistant to that person who'd been in that seat before, so the first Assistant to the U.S. attorney, or by some other Senate confirmed person in another department, even outside of justice, or the judges have to fill that position. That's it. But that's not what they did. They appointed Lindsey Halligan because Donald Trump instructed Pam Bondi to hire Lindsey Halligan, who had been working for him in the White House as White House counsel. No experience, seven years out of law school. She had been an insurance defense lawyer down in Florida. You know, fender bender lawyer in Florida, never a prosecutor. And now she's made instant prosecutor. Just add water. And now she's instructed to go because they're running out of time. 17 days until the statute of limitations run to go after former FBI Director James Comey for perjury and Letitia James, New York Attorney General for mortgage fraud. And she gets the indictments. Lord knows how judges that looked at these issues said she violated the Fourth Amendment, the Fifth Amendment, the Sixth Amendment, in her presentation to the grand jury, meaning the indictments were probably going to be dismissed anyway. But the Lawyers for Comey, Mr. Fitzpatrick. Sorry, Mr. Fitzgerald, and the lawyer for Letitia James, Abby Lowell, they file motions to dismiss the indictment and to. And to find that Lindsey Halligan was illegally appointed and therefore her indictments are Invalid. Judge Diaz, 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, sends it to Judge Curry, McGowan Curry in South Carolina. She conducts a full hearing, briefing, evidence, looks at the grand jury transcripts, looks at everything, issues her order. November 24th creates a vacancy in the office, finding that Lindsey Halligan was illegally appointed. From that day until Yesterday until the 20th, the Department of Justice completely ignored Judge Curry's order, although she was given that responsibility by the chief judge, said we don't agree with it. Okay. And continue to parade Lindsey Halligan around as the U.S. attorney, pissing off all the judges of the Eastern District. They would comment on it in hearings to Department of Justice lawyers. Why is Lindsey Halligan still signing pleadings, U.S. attorney and the like? Okay. My interpretation and any reasonable person's interpretation of the order by judge curry on November 24 is that a vacancy was created and that it could only be filled by the judges of the Eastern District, yet none of the judges stepped forward. The judge's conference didn't step forward to vote on a replacement. And I was wondering why from November, we get into December, nothing. And Donald Trump's abusing this issue, this quote unquote technicality to keep her in her chair. In fact, here's Donald Trump back when Lindsey Halligan was bounced as the U.S. attorney by Judge Kerry. Here's what he had to say about the technicality. Go. This week we saw those cases against James Comey and Letitia James tossed out.
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Odoo Advertiser
Do you still have faith in Lindsey Halligan?
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Guest Commentator
Oh, she's great. I think she's right. They got out on a technicality and you'll see what happens from here on. But if you look at the actual charges, I think anybody that looks at it very fairly would say, boy, are they guilty. So let's see what happens over the next week. You know, they, the court didn't say you couldn't bring the case re bring the case or appeal the case. So they have a lot of options. They're going to call the shot. I'm not calling that shot, but Lindsey's.
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Pam Bondi / Legal AF Guest
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- [12:58]
Legal AF Host
Yeah, the constitution is a technicality. Right? But the judges never stepped forward and Judge Curry didn't clarify her order after seeing what the Trump administration, how they were interpreting it, which was, oh, it's just a piece of paper, we can ignore it. Now. The weird thing is they took an appeal of the Trump administration to the fourth Circuit, but they didn't ask for a stay to stop the Judge Curry's order about the vacancy creating probably because they didn't want to acknowledge what the plain language of the order said. So they didn't want to ask for the stay because they just, they decided to ignore it. They didn't ask Judge Curry for a stay. They didn't ask the judges of the Eastern District of Virginia to put Lindsey Halligan in as interim, which they had the power to do. None of that. They just ran around. It finally came to a head about two weeks ago when Judge Novak, a Trump appointed judge, issued what I call an order to show cause to go to Lindsey Halley, an unrelated case and nothing to do with Lindsey Allegan, to an order to show cause that Lindsey Halligan put it in writing and sign it. Why she's impersonating, continuing to impersonate a U.S. attorney after being taken out of the job by Judge, Judge Curry's order. Why is she ignoring the order? And why aren't these ethical professional responsibility breaches that could lead to her being disciplined and lose her bar license. The government fought back hard, too hard, with vitriol, as Judge Novak wrote in his late order yesterday, attacking the judge, attacking the process, calling him a invalid inquisitor. This was an inquisition that he had no right to conduct that. They just didn't agree with Judge Curry's order. And it's up on appeal. And you know, she gets to be the interim in the meantime and the judge in a scathing order yesterday. And this is what led. This was the beginning to the end. This was the second to last domino. Two dominoes fell yesterday and the whole thing led to the resignation and disgrace by Lindsey Halligan while her patron was conveniently out of the country, out of his, out of his mind. Here's besides saying that the charade of her masquerading as A unit a U.S. attorney in defiance of court orders must end on page 17 of his order. He also said this about the Department of Justice and Lindsey Halligan and the rule of law says on page 11 as he goes through on page 10, all the things she could have done. He said on page 10. Ms. Halligan had numerous legal options that could have potentially allowed her to validly identify herself as the U.S. attorney while the Senate considers her nomination. Because she was nominated on 13 June, which has now of course been withdrawn to be confirmed by the Senate. She could have sought a stay from Judge Curry, from Judge Nakhmonoff and Judge Walker or the 4th Circuit. She could have petitioned the district judges to appoint her to the position. She could. She could have filed a motion with the chief judge allowing her to continue to use the moniker pending appeal or filed individual motions seeking to use it before each district court Judge. She chose none of these legal avenues. Instead, Judge Novak wrote, she elected to simply ignore valid court orders issued by Judge Curry. This court cannot tolerate such obstinate because doing so, it undermined the very essence of the rule of law. If the court were to allow Ms. Halligan and the Department of Justice to pick and choose which orders they will follow, the same would have to be true for other litigants, and our system of justice would crumble. He talked a lot about the rule of law, which he put in capital letters. In fact, on page 17 in his conclusion, he wrote the following. And I think these are the final nails in the coffin for Lindsay Halligan, which forced her to resign in disgrace. Despite coming. He said on page 17 that the Eastern District has long enjoyed the service of experienced prosecutors with unquestioned integrity from both political parties. Despite coming from different political backgrounds, very different ideological views, they all shared an unwavering commitment to the rule of law, putting the interests of the citizens before their own personal ambitions, as true public servants do. Unfortunately, it appears this ethos has come to an end, and a district judge, acting at the direction of the Chief judge of the 4th Circuit, has ruled on behalf of the district judges of this district that Ms. Halligan was invalidly appointed. No matter all of her machinations, Ms. Halligan has no legal basis to represent to this court that she holds the position. Any such representation going forward can only be described as a false statement. That was the second shoe to drop that day. Judge, Judge Locke, who's the chief judge of Eastern District, she had a whole different analysis, which, frankly, I don't agree with, that. The vacancy just began on the 20th of January. The vacancy was created, as Judge Novak rightly points out, on November 24th. Now, maybe to avoid conflict with the Trump administration, she's a newly appointed chief judge. The chief judge said, well, there's one thing nobody can disagree with. The 120 days under the statute is up today. So I'm going to go with that. Safer route. But you didn't even mention Judge Curry, which I thought was a slight and a dis process. But in any event, those that that pincher movement by those two judges crushed Lindsey Halligan. And what is it proving to us? It proves to us that opposing the Trump administration rigorously on a daily basis, bringing the crowds, bringing the courage, means that they're going to fold. They do it all the time. Sky Perryman just joined me last night for a live of my podcast the Intersection, on Tuesday nights on the Midas Touch Network. Just as the story Broke. And here's how she puts it. As the leader of Democracy Forward, that has more than 400 matters against the Trump administration winning more than 90% of them. Here's Sky Perryman.
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Pam Bondi / Legal AF Guest
That pressure matters. Pam Bondi has announced that Lindsey Halligan is out.
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Sky Perryman
There you go.
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Pam Bondi / Legal AF Guest
Not only is the Eastern District of Virginia prosecutor, U.S. prosecutor, U.S. attorney, but out of the Department of Justice completely.
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Sky Perryman
There you go.
- [19:36]
Pam Bondi / Legal AF Guest
So, I mean, does that not. Let me just read it, sky. Then I'll have you react on the fly to it. Here's Pam Bondi. Of course, she doesn't lead with. She's out. During her 120 day tenure as the interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District, Lindsey Halligan served with the utmost distinction, unwavering commitment to the rule of law. She worked tirelessly, what since October. To protect the more than 6 million residents of the Eastern District. Despite multiple unnecessary legal obstacles placed in her path, she stepped forward at a critical juncture. Her departure is a significant loss for the Department of Justice. This is a. This is a person who was made a prosecutor in October for the first time in her life. It's a significant loss, apparently, to the Department of Justice. While we will feel her absence keenly, we will confident that she will continue to serve her country in other ways. That means Donald Trump's going to kick her over to some other organization that he controls this. The circumstances that led to this outcome are deeply misguided.
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Legal AF Host
Blah, blah, blah.
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Pam Bondi / Legal AF Guest
All right, now look, the sky on the air. It totally proves your point, does it.
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Sky Perryman
Not, that every day, we see this every single day.
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Pam Bondi / Legal AF Guest
They lost twice today.
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Sky Perryman
As I, as I joke, they lost twice today. But it's also about her. I mean, yes, but there's also. I mean, we see this every day in all these cases. And at the same time, we have to hold that reality, that pressure works.
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Legal AF Host
Oh, yeah.
- [21:00]
Sky Perryman
Courage is the new currency. You're not getting out of this moment without standing up and pushing back. But when you do, it often works.
- [21:08]
Legal AF Host
So this matters because we could have just looked the other way and said, oh, that's Donald Trump being Donald Trump, violating the Constitution again. No, we have to take a stand. We got to chop the wood. We got to chop down the tree. Every day, every way, with focus, determination, courage, confidence that the rule of law is on our side. And as she pointed out, the Trump administration and the Department of Justice folds. Folds frequently. I'll continue to follow all of their folding here on the Midas Touch Network. Take a moment. Become a paid subscriber on Legal AF, YouTube channel and of course subscribe here on the Midas Touch Network until my next report. This is Michael can't get your fill of Legal af. Me neither.
- [21:55]
Legal AF Contributor
That's why we formed the Legal AF Substack. Every time we mention something in a 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.
- [22:11]
Legal AF Host
What else?
- [22:12]
Legal AF Contributor
All the other contributors from Legal AOF are 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.
- [22:29]
Mint Mobile Advertiser
Well, the holidays have come and gone once again, but if you've forgotten to get that special someone in your life a gift. Well, Mint Mobile is extending their holiday offer of half off unlimited wireless. So here's the idea. You get it now, you call it an early present for next year.
- [22:44]
Legal AF Host
What do you have to lose?
- [22:46]
Mint Mobile Advertiser
Give it a try@mintmobile.com.
- [22:49]
Advertiser Voice
Limited time 50% off regular price for new customers. Upfront payment required $45 for three months, $90 for six month or $180 for 12 month plan taxes and fees. Extra speeds may slow after 50 gigabytes per month when network is busy.
- [22:58]
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