Trump DOJ Laughed Out of Court as Jury Acquits

Summary

Podcast Summary: Legal AF by MeidasTouch

Episode: Trump DOJ Laughed Out of Court as Jury Acquits
Date: November 7, 2025
Host: Michael Popok (plus co-hosts Ben Meiselas and Karen Friedman Agnifilo, though only Popok appears in this segment)

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Main Theme

This episode sharply critiques the Trump-era Department of Justice (DOJ) following a high-profile jury acquittal in the “Salami Subway Sandwich Caper,” where a former DOJ paralegal was prosecuted on federal charges for tossing a sandwich at a Customs and Border Patrol officer. Host Michael Popok uses this case as a lens to analyze broader issues of credibility, prosecutorial overreach, and repeated legal setbacks for the Trump/Bondi DOJ, connecting the episode’s legal outcomes to wider recent judicial and electoral repudiations of Trump-aligned governance.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Salami Subway Sandwich Trial

• Case Background:
  • Shawn Dunn, former DOJ paralegal, threw a wrapped salami sandwich at a customs officer in D.C., accused of felony assault on a federal officer.
  • Jury acquitted Dunn in less than three hours, reportedly while eating sandwiches themselves, highlighting the perceived absurdity of the prosecution ([01:00]).
• Prosecution’s Overreach:
  • Popok lampoons the attempt to press serious criminal charges over the incident, noting the DOJ’s failed history in getting grand jury indictments for similar protest cases.
  • He praises Dunn’s attorney, Julia Gatto, for a succinct and devastatingly effective closing:

    "He did it. He threw the sandwich. And now the federal U.S. attorney prosecutor wants to make a federal criminal case out of it."
    — Michael Popok, quoting Gatto, [02:22]

  • Federal jury and grand jury skepticism viewed as symptomatic of broad DOJ credibility problems—especially in highly charged protest contexts.

2. The Perjury Problem and Law Enforcement Testimony

• Officer Testimony Exposed:
  • Customs officer Greg Larimore claimed the sandwich “exploded all over his chest” and he “reeked of onions and mustard”—questioned and debunked via photographic evidence showing an intact sandwich on the ground ([04:45]).
  • Popok draws a direct line to a judge recently finding border patrol officers lied under oath in a separate Chicago protest case:

    "When you lose your credibility, when you lose your veracity, your ethics, your candor, your authenticity, you’re done… The Department of Justice might as well cash it in."
    — Michael Popok, [02:54]

• Broader Pattern:
  • Both jury and judicial skepticism are portrayed as wide-reaching, extending well beyond this incident and signaling a crisis for the DOJ under Trump and Bondi.

3. Symptom of a Broader DOJ & Trump Administration Problem

• Failed Prosecutions & Judicial Pushback:
  • Case fits into a week replete with legal setbacks for Trump/Bondi DOJ—federal judges granting injunctions against misuse of National Guard in protests (Portland, Chicago), protecting funding for blue states, and derailing efforts to block food stamps.
  • Popok interprets this torrent of losses as a collapse of the administration’s legal credibility and an example of democratic institutions self-correcting:

    "Grand juries are wise to it. And juries are wise to it and federal judges are wise to it. And this is symptomatic of a broader problem that Donald Trump and Pam Bondi have. Nobody’s buying what they’re selling."
    — Michael Popok, [09:10]

4. Political and Legal Context (“A Great Week for Justice”)

• Election Results:
  • The host runs through a list of blue-wave electoral results, interpreting the legal outcomes as intertwined with changing political winds, including major Democratic victories in Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and even Mississippi ([10:30–12:30]).
• DOJ Resource Waste:
  • Popok scathingly highlights the mismatch between DOJ resources and case significance:

    "We’re spending hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars to go after Sean Dunn and his salami sandwich. And I just think it’s… been an epically bad week for Donald Trump and a great week for justice."
    — Michael Popok, [09:53]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Popok’s Colorful Sarcasm (on DOJ priorities):

  "Hey, what are you in for? I tossed the salami sandwich. Oh, they're going to be scared of him in the pen. Oh, my God."
  — Michael Popok, [08:18]

• Sean Dunn’s Statement After Acquittal:

  "I believe that I was protecting the rights of immigrants. And let us not forget that the great seal of the United States says e pluribus unum. That means from many one, every life matters… you have the right to live a life that is free."
  — Sean Dunn, [06:54]

• Popok Summing Up the Case’s Broader Meaning:

  "A jury… can smell a lie and inauthenticity… a mile away and they will rule against you as a result."
  — Michael Popok, [09:15]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• [01:00–03:50]
  The Salami Case: Summary, closing statement by defense, and context about DOJ tactics

• [04:45–06:36]
  Police testimony’s credibility unraveled; video/photo evidence discussed

• [06:36–08:07]
  Sean Dunn’s post-acquittal statement

• [08:07–09:53]
  DOJ’s insistence on prosecution, connection to further police perjury cases

• [09:53–12:30]
  Broader negative legal and electoral outcomes for Trump/Bondi DOJ and MAGA

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Overall Tone & Style

Michael Popok’s tone is irreverent and biting, mixing sharp legal critique with wry humor to lampoon the prosecutorial decisions of the Trump-era DOJ. He uses the absurdity of the sandwich case to illustrate a deeper legal rot—prosecutorial overreach, contempt for due process, and dishonesty in government testimony—culminating in both judicial and public backlash.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode uses the “salami sandwich caper” as both a pointed comedic anecdote and a case study—offering a scathing review of the Trump/Bondi DOJ’s strategy of aggressive, often legally dubious prosecutions. The acquittal, according to Popok, is emblematic of a justice system waking up to and rejecting politicized, bad-faith law enforcement. Recent legal and electoral defeats for Trump allies are woven in to support the argument that accountability is finally asserting itself across American institutions.

Transcript

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[Michael Popak]

Well, the great Salami Subway sandwich caper is over. And so with it our long national nightmare. All kidding aside, Shawn Dunn, former paralegal for the Department of Justice that had a neatly wrapped salami Subway sandwich filled with onions and mustard which he tossed at a custom and Border Patrol officer, has been acquitted in less than three hours by a jury in the D.C. courts. Federal court no less, as they munched on, wait for it, sandwiches to deliberate his faith and the closing argument given by Sean Dunn, who's a hero now in DC With Banksy like images of him in silhouette tossing a Subway sandwich on graffiti walls all over D.C. this might be, and I've been doing this a long time. I've done dozens of jury trials. This must might be one of the finest closing arguments and opening statements I've ever heard. And I'm going to invite her on the show because I was so impressed by it. His lawyer who looked at the jury, a Julia Gatto, and said the following to obtain her acquittal for her client, he did it. He threw the sandwich. And now the federal U.S. attorney prosecutor wants to make a federal criminal case out of it. I don't know if she sat down right after that, but she could have. All that was left for the U.S. attorney in the room, the Assistant U.S. attorney was to stand up and go put aside your feelings about Donald Trump and try to convict this guy in a misdemeanor. Now remember, Sean Dunn was actually they wanted to indict him for a felony of assault on a federal officer because of the subway sandwich toss. And the federal grand jury in D.C. justice, it has done about eight or nine other times with Jeanine Pirro's crackerjack. Department of justice boards in D.C. said no, nope and they would not indict. That's the problem the Department of Justice is having. Look, this is the second time in one day that either a jury or a judge didn't believe a government witness. And when you lose your credibility, when you lose your veracity, your ethics, your candor, your authenticity, you're done. You're dead. The Department of Justice might as well cash it in. They're done. You got Judge Ellis today who said out loud in Chicago, I have an earlier hot take up on this right now. In ruling in a 95 minute presentation of her for preliminary injunction against the Trump administration, found that the head of the border patrol operating in Chicago with the National Guard lied under oath. We have a word for that. It's called perjury. And we have a word or a concept for somebody in the Department of Justice that allows that testimony to go on the stand. We call that suborning perjury. So Greg Larimore, who's a border patrol agent in the Shawn Dunn salami sandwich case. I'm getting hungry already. He testified that the sandwich in question exploded all over his chest and he reeked of onions and mustard. Oh my God. That's the assault. The grand jury said. I mean the jury said munching on sandwiches during deliberation time. And that was probably a lie because when he was cross examined by Sean Dunn's lawyers, they pointed out with a photo I'll put up here that the sandwich intact, wrapped was on the ground. I don't know if anybody's eaten at Subway lately, but when you walk away with a to go order, it's a pretty tidy bundle, right? It's listen, I got a young daughter been doing diapers. That's pretty tight on there. Unless it rolled out in flight, I'm not ballistics expert, but unless it rolled out in flight, it's not going to hit him full blown. An open naked sandwich not in its wrapper. And so the jury, that's again a lie to try to bootstrap and win a losing case that never should have been brought. No self respecting prosecutor would ever bring this case. And that's why this is more than just about whether the salami sandwich had onions and mustard or not. By the way, shout out chef's kiss. That's a good combo right there. I didn't even know Subway had salami. I'm going to show you. We have it rolling here. The video clip of the toss along with photos. But again, what does it say about the Department of Justice under Pam Bondi and Donald Trump that they thought they should try to get a felony indictment out of a grand jury again? Nine or ten other times they failed. They failed against one protester three times to get her indicted. And then they said rather than drop it and go, all right, let the. No, because he worked. Because Pam Bondi so thin skinned, she fired the salami toss guy and she wouldn't and fired him as a paralegal. In fact, we have a clip of Sean Dunn right after he was acquitted with his lawyers. Let's play the clip.

[Sean Dunn]

Firstly, I'd like to thank especially Sabrina, Julia and Nick for countless hours and the rest of the team at Steptoe. And I would like to thank Steptoe for offering all of their services pro bono feeding me. I would like to thank family and friends and strangers for all of their support, whether it was emotional or spiritual or artistic or financial. To the people that opened their hearts and homes to me, I am eternally grateful and I am so happy that justice prevails in spite of everything happening. And that night, I believe that I was protecting the rights of immigrants. And let us not forget that the great seal of the United States says e pluribus unum. That means from many one, every life matters. No matter where you came from, no matter how you got here, no matter how you identify, you have the right to live a life that is free.

[Michael Popak]

The fact that the Department of Justice said no, we're not going to listen to the grand jury. We're going to go for a misdemeanor. We don't need a grand jury. It's still a crime. Guys still have to lose sleep at night. You can just picture it. Hey, what are you in for? I tossed the salami sandwich. Oh, they're going to be scared of him in the pen. Oh, my God. But this is. I'm going to tie it together with Judge Ellis's case. Judge Ellis said that Greg Bevino, Customs and Border Patrol, another CPB officer lied under oath when he said that somebody threw a rock at him as retaliation for him firing tear gas. Today. They just. They just arrested Sean Dunn. Could have beaten him to a pulp. Could have hit him with pepper ball spray. You got a lying rogue federal force out there who's being protected by a lawless, rogue Department of Justice. And grand juries are wise to it. And juries are wise to it and federal judges are wise to it. And this is symptomatic of a broader problem that Donald Trump and Pam Bondi have. Nobody's buying what they're selling. Nobody's picking up what they're throwing down. Grand jury juries and grand juries are too smart for them. A jury and a jury particularly, and I've done fair amount of jury work, can smell a lie and inauthenticity, authenticity a mile away and they will rule against you as a result. There's no way they believe Greg Larimore and his I'm reeking of onions and mustard. And who cares? How is that a felony or how is that a misdemeanor or an assault? Yes, it's technically an unwanted touching. So it is a battery under the law. I get it. I'm not saying the guy wanted the sandwich thrown at him. But this is what we're making federal cases about. We got a shutdown going on. We're spending hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars to go after Sean Don and his salami sandwich. And I just think it's, this has been an epically bad week for Donald Trump and a great week for justice. Just this week. I'm just going to list, I'm just going to go through the list. Judge Immergut in Portland issues her preliminary injunction on way to a permanent injunction tomorrow to stop National Guard from being used. In Portland, Oregon, Judge McConnell in Rhode island first issues a decision, a permanent injunction after trial to stop taking away infrastructure and transportation funds from blue cities and blue states with sanctuary city and state status. He then issues an order, and now a second order to compel the Trump administration to pay out $8 billion worth of SNAP food stamp payments. This is all this week, by the way, ladies and gentlemen. Judge Ellis issues in Chicago a preliminary injunction against the attack on the clergy, on law, on first amendment protesters, on veterans and members of the media and press for being attacked viciously without justification. That shocked the conscience, in her words, by low by federal law enforcement. And now we've got a, a jury that rejects the Trump administration's Department of Justice. We've got Judge Curry. This is all this week. Judge Curry who demands that the grand jury transcripts for Lindsey Halligan's work against Letitia James and James Comey be delivered to her. Yesterday we got a magistrate judge who this week told ordered every piece of scrap of paper that the Department of Justice has related to James Kobe get turned over immediately and that he was shocked that they were prosecuting first and investigating second. And he was going to put an end to it. That's this week. And I haven't even talked about the Supreme Court having, let's just say, a jaundiced view, including the Trump appointees to his tariff plan. It's all start big. It's all starting to work. It's all all starting to turn against Donald Trump and maga. And then election night, one of the worst wipeouts in electoral history. A state that had a red governor turn blue in Virginia. A New Jersey female governor gets elected, who's a moderate Democrat. She flips counties that had gone red back to blue. Mississippi elects two Democratic delegates of all things. Thirteen delegates in Pennsylvania go blue. The Supreme Court justices in Pennsylvania stay blue. Gavin Newsom banks his political career on Prop 50 and the five new seats maps and he wins 64%. And that's just one week in November, everybody. As we get ready for the midterms, I'm glad you're here on Midas Touch. Take a minute, hit the free subscribe button, come over to Legal AF YouTube. Do the exact same thing. Help us continue to grow these these communities. So until my next Hot Take update, Legal AAF contribution. I'm Michael Popak.

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