Trump DOJ Instantly Trapped as Judge Invites Epstein Lawsuit?!?!

Summary

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Legal AF by MeidasTouch – Episode Summary

Date: January 21, 2026
Episode: Trump DOJ Instantly Trapped as Judge Invites Epstein Lawsuit?!?!
Host: Michael Popok (MeidasTouch Network, Civil Rights & Trial Lawyer)
Special Guests: Lisa Phillips (Epstein Survivor & Advocate)
Other Mentioned: Representatives Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna

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Main Theme & Purpose

In this episode, Michael Popok analyzes a recent federal court decision regarding Congressional oversight, victim rights, and the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. The focal point is Judge Paul A. Engelmayer’s denial of Congressional intervention in file production related to the Epstein case but his explicit invitation for a new, independent lawsuit to enforce transparency under the "Epstein Act." The episode features insights from survivor leader Lisa Phillips and explores broader issues of justice, accountability, survivor advocacy, and legal jurisdiction.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Judge Engelmayer's Ruling on the Epstein Files Case ([00:00]–[04:00])

• Judge denies Representatives Massie and Khanna’s motion for court oversight of DOJ’s Epstein file production, citing lack of jurisdiction.
• The closed nature of the related criminal cases against Ghislaine Maxwell and the deceased Jeffrey Epstein limits judicial power.
• Judge recognizes the legitimacy and urgency of the concerns raised by Congress members and survivors about DOJ’s credibility and transparency.

“Judge Engelmeier...ruled that he doesn’t have the power, unfortunately, or the jurisdiction... However, there is a silver lining twofold. One: he heard the victims.”—Michael Popok [00:00]

2. Victims' Voices Finally Heard ([00:43]–[05:45])

• Judge Engelmayer considered and quoted the declaration of survivor Lisa Phillips, marking an important recognition of victim perspectives in the case.
• Lisa Phillips’ declaration criticizes DOJ’s history of “paying lip service to the victims and failing to treat us with the solicitude we deserve.”
• The judge affirms: The issues raised by Congressional sponsors and victims are “undeniably important and timely.”

“They note...the DOJ's track record...has been marked by paying lip service to the victims and failing to treat us with the solicitude we deserve.”—Judge Engelmayer, quoting Lisa Phillips [05:10]

3. The DOJ’s Handling & Shell Game with Epstein Files

• Discussion of DOJ’s inconsistent claims about the number and status of documents (going from hundreds of thousands to millions, and contradicting numbers).
• Massie and Khanna, main sponsors of the Epstein Act, intervene due to mounting concerns of document “disappearance” and manipulation.

“It was some sort of shell game. There are 700,000 pages we need to review. No, there’s a million documents. No, we think we found 5.2 million. No. And now it’s down to 2 million.”—Michael Popok [02:20]

4. The “Silver Lining”—Invitation to Sue & Congressional Oversight ([08:10]–[09:10])

• Judge Engelmayer denies the motion but explicitly invites victims or Congress to file a new independent federal lawsuit aimed at enforcing the Epstein Act.
• Suggests possibility for new legal actions and continued Congressional oversight.
• Popok predicts legal debate over “standing,” but argues victims and Congressional members have strong grounds to file.

“In his conclusion, [Judge Engelmayer] says...this decision not to allow Massey, Khan and the survivors to be heard...is without prejudice to their right to initiate a separate lawsuit...He didn’t have to write that. That’s a direct invitation.”—Michael Popok [08:10]

5. Survivor Advocacy: Lisa Phillips Interview ([10:37]–[12:55])

• Lisa Phillips shares her motivation:

  “The federal judge didn’t ask for another, like, political argument…He specifically asked whether a victim needed to be heard...Up until now, survivors have been talked about. We haven’t been centered.”—Lisa Phillips [10:37]

• On Survivor Pain & Frustration:

  “This isn’t theoretical for us. The DOJ being late, changing its story, releasing only a fraction of the files—that causes real emotional harm and re-traumatization. There are 1,200 survivors…That’s a very large number of victims dealing with this...” —Lisa Phillips [12:13]

• Lisa emphasizes the need for survivors’ direct voices, rather than being filtered through agencies or politicians.

• Michael Popok credits survivors’ efforts for legislative and political action leading up to this point.

“Everything that’s happened is really because of your courage…even Donald Trump being pressured politically to sign [the act] is all because of you…”—Michael Popok to Lisa Phillips [11:09]

6. What's Next? Potential Legal Action and Continued Advocacy ([12:53]–[13:47])

• Question raised: Will survivors or Congressmembers pursue the new lawsuit suggested by the judge?
• Listeners invited to follow Legal AF and MeidasTouch for developing details.
• Order and supporting documents to be shared on Legal AF Substack for further transparency and engagement.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Court’s Acknowledgement of Survivor Experience:

  “Based on my personal experience, their continued failure to comply with has caused significant emotional distress and re-traumatization. It undermines survivors’ trust in the integrity of the process and in the government’s announced commitment to transparency.”—Lisa Phillips (affidavit) [09:40, read by Michael Popok]

• On the Meaning of the Judge’s Invitation:

  “That’s a direct invitation. File a suit alleging a violation of the Epstein Transparency Act…that is a way to do it, and I think that would be successful.”—Michael Popok [08:12]

• On Survivor Impact:

  “Survivors live with the consequences of delay and the mishandling. This is like something that we deal with, run group chats. We talk about this all the time. It’s frustrating for us…”—Lisa Phillips [12:13]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Opening & Background: [00:00–02:40]
• DOJ’s Mishandling & Document Confusion: [02:20–04:00]
• Judge’s Ruling & Survivor Involvement: [04:00–09:10]
• Lisa Phillips Affidavit Discussion: [09:11–10:37]
• Lisa Phillips Interview: [10:37–12:55]
• Future Legal Action Discussion: [12:53–13:47]

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Episode Takeaways

• Judge Engelmayer denied jurisdiction to directly intervene but created a clear legal path for survivors and Congressional sponsors to bring a new action targeting the DOJ’s lack of compliance with the Epstein Act.
• The voices of Epstein victims are beginning to take center stage, as survivors themselves are recognized and quoted by the court.
• There is significant frustration and trauma attached to the DOJ’s delays and opacity.
• The podcast underscores the intersection of survivor advocacy, legal complexities, and political accountability in one of the most high-profile criminal cases in recent history.

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Transcript

[Michael Popak]

On the one hand, a federal judge just denied Representatives Khanna and Massie and their efforts to try to get that federal judge to provide court oversight over the Epstein file production, arguing that the Department of Justice has forfeited any credibility as they continue to bury and hide and disappear millions of documents. Judge Engelmeier, on one hand, ruled that he doesn't have the power, unfortunately, or the jurisdiction to enter such an order or to allow the congresspeople to have such participation in a case that is dedicated to effectively a closed criminal case involving Ghislaine Maxwell. However, there is a silver lining twofold.

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One, he heard the victims.

[Michael Popak]

He heard Judge Engelmeier from the survivors. In fact, he quoted approvingly of the declaration filed by survivor leader Lisa Phillips, full disclosure. I represent Lisa Phillips in that matter. So the. The victims were heard. Although the judge at the end, sort of with a little bit of sadness, a little bit of melancholy tinged in.

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His order, said he doesn't have the.

[Michael Popak]

Jurisdiction or authority, but he did invite Massie and Khanna or others to file an independent lawsuit in federal court against the Department of Justice of the Trump administration and to do other things in Congress for oversight. So I see it as a silver lining. We'll talk about the merits of such a lawsuit here on Midas Touch Network and on Legal af. We've been following this, this case closely. We jumped off the sidelines. At least I did. Popoc firm representing Lisa Phillips as a survivor. Because about a week ago, Judge Engelmeier, once he was approached by Representatives Massie and Khanna, those two bipartisan sponsors, not only of the discharge petition which got the. The Epstein files bill to the floor. Political to. To put maximum political pressure brought by our audience, brought by those that oppose Donald Trump, brought by independent media to bear, leading to an almost unanimous passage of the act and signing by Donald Trump, who was left with no choice with that act in hand, once the Trump administration Department of justice started playing fast and loose with missing documents, disappearing documents. So it was some sort of shell game. There are 700,000 pages we need to review. No, there's a million documents. No, we think we found 5.2 million. No. And now it's down to 2 million. I mean, that actually happened in court filings and public statements, and that led Massey and Khanna to run into court. Who better? The framers, the founders of the Epstein Act. It's like getting the founding fathers or the framers of the Constitution to go into court and talk about the meaning of the Constitution and the problem is it's sort of a narrow jurisdictional ledge that they were walking, because this. There's a number of judges that are still basically presiding over matters. Like Judge Berman over the Epstein criminal case, of course, long gone because he hanged himself or died, whatever it was. And Judge Engelmeier, who presides over whatever's left of the Ghislaine Maxwell case, which really, there isn't anything left, but because her appeal's been denied through the Supreme Court, and she's toast, she's now representing herself as a jailhouse lawyer with different filings to get out of jail. So with that narrow, limited jurisdiction, Judge Engelmeier, though, found it interesting that the two sponsors of the Epstein act were running to him because the Department of Justice had already run to Judge Engelmeier. My argument is there's already been a waiver, right? It's already part of his inherent authority to supervise a process that the Department of Justice has involved him in. It's just that he defined the request by the Department of Justice very narrow and then narrowed his jurisdiction as a result. But he said to the parties, I want to hear from Massie and Khanna about why they want to intervene in this case as a friend of the court, what's called an amici, and file a brief to argue for an independent counsel and special monitor. He also looked around in that order and said, I don't see any survivors participating because there's really only two parties in this case. The Department of Justice, controlled by Donald Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell. Of course, they're not gonna raise the issue. So he. So, you know, when we read it, we said, he's inviting a victim to be heard from again. And this judge in the past had actually been very, very protective over the victims and their rights, excoriating the government on a number of prior orders about how they were handling this matter. So Lisa Phillips put on her cape. She doesn't even need a cape. Ran into the burning building and decided she needed to be heard as one of the victims, another victim. Also, Ms. Robeson also filed a letter to the judge, and we were, and I am proudly representing Lisa Phillips in this matter. And that declaration by Lisa was actually quoted approvingly by Judge Engelmeier. Let me read from his order. Then we'll talk about Lisa Phillips. Then I'll tell you what happens next with the invitation for a new lawsuit and the likelihood that that could happen. So the judge starts with, this is a decision to resolve a motion by two United States representatives to participate in this case as friends of the court. He says that on page one. He then walks through all of their allegations, particularly that the DOJ on page two has falsely blamed the courts for its multiple failures to comply with the actual that without independent oversight that the representatives do not believe that the DOJ will produce the records that are required by the act and they can't be trusted with these disclosures. Then the judge gets to the Lisa Phillips part. The Court has since received letters and emails from victims of Epstein supporting the Representative's request. These express concern that the DOJ otherwise will not comply with the actual. They note and here's where they quote my client Lisa Phillips declaration they Note that the DOJ's track record preceding passage of the act has been marked by paying lip service to the victims and failing to treat us with the solicitude we deserve. That's directly from Lisa Phillips declaration. The questions raised by the representatives and the victims, Judge Engelmeier says, are undeniably important and timely. They raise legitimate concerns about whether the DOJ is faithfully complying with the federal law. But for the two reasons below, I can't grant their relief. His argument I don't have the jurisdiction. I don't have the authority. My inherent authority as a federal judge does not stretch as far as maybe he would like, but does open the door to a new lawsuit Magic Spoon is basically the grown up version of.

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[Michael Popak]

In his conclusion, he says that this decision not to allow Massey, Khan and the survivors to be heard from on this issue of an independent or special master is without prejudice to the Representative's right to initiate a separate lawsuit and, of course, pursue oversight in Congress. He didn't have to write that. That's a direct invitation. File a suit alleging a violation of the Epstein Transparency act may not be assigned to Judge Engelmeier. Could be it'll be randomly assigned, but that is a way to do it, and I think that would be successful. Now they're going to argue, the Department of Justice, that nobody has standing to bring such a suit because there's no private right of action or mechanism within the act to enforce it. I don't agree with that. I think if you violate a statute, you violate a law. Somebody can run to court with standing. And who has. Who better to have standing than members of Congress or a victim like Lisa Phillips? Here's what Lisa Phillips said in her declaration that I filed on her behalf. I am a survivor of sex trafficking criminal enterprise led by Epstein and Maxwell. Page one. On page two, she says, I have no confidence in paragraph four that the DOJ, already 30 days late in complying with the act with no end in sight and with its constantly shifting public pronouncements about the volume of the documents subject to review, will produce the Epstein files. Based on my personal experience, their continued failure to comply with has caused significant emotional distress and re traumatization. It undermines survivors trust in the integrity of the process and in the government's announced commitment to transparency. She. She then says the DoJ has not taken actions to fully comply and will not do so. And that the court has found in the past that the DOJ has paid lip service to the victims without the solicitude that they deserve. That was picked up, as you saw, by Judge Engelmeier in his order. Lisa Phillips continues. The appointment of an independent monitor or special master would provide needed compliance and protection of the rights and dignity of the survivors who have suffered profound harm and further trauma in the future caused by uncertainty and broken assurances. Now, let me show you a clip from an interview I did live yesterday on the intersection on the Midas Touch Network with Lisa Phillips about this matter. And here's Lisa Phillips.

[Lisa Phillips]

Well, I wanted to say what's important is that the federal judge didn't ask for another, like, political argument or another dog explanation. He specifically asked whether a victim needed to be heard. So that's the reason why, you know, I spoke to you about it and said, we have to do something because this matters. And up until now, survivors have been talked about. We haven't been centered. And when the federal judge opens the door and says, essentially, is there a survivor who wants to speak to how this is being handled? That's not something you ignore. You know, this was the time to do it.

[Michael Popak]

Yeah, absolutely. And it's, it's gotten some coverage and some press and, and even Representative Kana and Massey in their own filing today referenced your affidavit along with another survivor written. You know, one of the lawyers there wrote a letter to the judge related to it, encouraging the judge to exercise his inherent authority to take the Department of Justice out of the process, that they have effectively forfeited their right. They can't be trusted with this process. How do you feel about it? I mean, you, you were on cap. We had a picture of you up there. You've been fighting hard with the other survivors on Capitol Hill. And everything that's happened is really because of your courage. You know, the bill, get it. The discharge petition getting the signatures, the almost 434 members of the House signing onto it, all of the Senate, even Donald Trump being pressured politically to sign it is all because of you. And yet we're still sitting here six weeks later on the same stinking 12,000 pages. What's your view on that?

[Lisa Phillips]

Well, the difference now is survivors live with the consequences of delay and the mishandling. This is like something that we deal with, run group chats. We talk about this all the time. It's frustrating for us. And this isn't theoretical for us. The DOJ being late, changing its story, releasing only a fraction of the files, that causes real emotional harm and re traumatization. And there are 1200 survivors. People need to understand that's a very large number of victims that are dealing with this day to day, whether they're outspoken or not. And the judge needed to hear that directly, not filter through agencies or politics.

[Michael Popak]

So could Lisa Phillips, could any of the other survivors, and they're all represented by competent counsel as well, file the lawsuit, which has basically been put on the radar screen by Judge Engelmeier? You know where to tune in to find out here on Legal AF on the Midas Touch network. Hit the subscribe button for Midas Touch. Come over to Legal AF. YouTube. And people are always like, how can we invest in Legal AF and keep you on the air and keep your independence independent forever? Especially under these trying times when the CBSs and the ABCs of the world and other, you know, you know, people we thought were independent, maybe not be independent. How do we support Legal af? Okay, now's the time. Think about becoming a paid subscriber. We got different levels there on YouTube. And come over to our legal AF substack where I will post Judge Engel Myers order and Lisa Phillips affidavit for your review. So until my next video, my next analysis, I'm Michael Popak.

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[Michael Popak]

Me neither.

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[Michael Popak]

For there as well.

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