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- [00:01]
Michael Popak
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- [00:30]
Unknown Speaker
Here's the new lesson for today. If you tell the truth to the Trump administration or to courts in defense of the Trump administration, you're going to get fired. Because Donald Trump doesn't want to know about the truth. He wants to bury his head in the sand and he wants to tell lies to the American people. And if he, if he can get away with it in the courtrooms themselves. And now new reporting is that Trump has had his national intelligence director, Tulsi Gabbard, fire, fire the authors of that memo that just came out of being classified, the declassified memo from just a week ago that put a lie to Donald Trump's arguments about his use of the Alien Enemies Act. Because the memo, prepared at the request of Tulsi Gabbard by her national intelligence people, told her in a written report that Venezuela was not under the control of Trend Aragua, that terrorist gang, that the, that the Maduro regime was not under the control of nor using Trend Aragua in order to destabilize America. That put a lie to everything Donald Trump is saying about his use of the, of the Alien Enemies Act. And Donald Trump didn't like it. So he had Tulsi Gabbard fire the authors. See, this is what happens in a tyranny. This is what happens in fascism. If you don't like what academia is saying, if you don't like what your national intelligence community is saying, if you don't like what the press is saying, if you don't like what your lawyers are saying in court, off with their heads. Behead them. They're the enemies of the people. I see them as heroes. We're gonna talk more again about that unclassified document, how it came to be and the firings right here on the Midas Touch Network. Let's dive in. A couple weeks ago, a and I have it up on the legal AF substack, there was big new reporting that a memo had become unclassified or declassified by way of a lawsuit. There is a public interest group that filed a lawsuit through a Freedom of Information act request in order to get a copy of everything related to the intelligence community's analysis of Venezuela and its connection to Trend Aragua, the terrorist gang Donald Trump is using as military combatants or a foreign terrorist organization in order to use the Alien Enemies Act. And as part of that, the Freedom of Information foundation was able to obtain that declassified memo, which I have as well. And I'm going to read you to it. I'm going to read you from it. When I'm done, you're going to understand why Tulsi Gabbard and Donald Trump just fired these people today. Here's the memo, which again is up on Here it is, is up on our substack for legal AF Venezuela examining regime ties to Trend. Now, I want to make this clear. This is dated 7th April 2025. This is not a Biden document. This is not an Obama document. This isn't even a Hillary Clinton document. This is a Joe. This is a Donald Trump this term, this April document that was prepared at the behest of his own national intelligence director. And to her, they just didn't like the answer and so they fired everybody today because of it. And here's the conclusions. Besides the fact that TDA is a decentralized entity that doesn't have a command and control function and that is not at war with with America, here's what it has to say. Trans TDA is a transnational gang based in Venezuela that has spread to at least seven South American and Caribbean countries, operating in loosely organized cells of criminal networks. Okay. TDA formed in 2007. All right. In recent years, its leadership has faced setbacks. It has spread to other countries, aided by the movement of a larger body of Venezuelan migrants in Bolivia and Chile and Colombia and of course, the United States. Right now, under the header Maduro regime, probably not directing TDA activities. I am sure this is what stuck in Donald Trump's claw craw, because he's telling, as part of his proclamation of war, if you will, that the reason he gets to use the Alien enemies Act of 1898 is because we're at war with Venezuela. The Venezuela has been taken over by TDA and or vice versa, not according to his national intelligence community. Here's what it says. While Venezuela's permissive environment enables TDA to operate, the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA's movements to and operations in the United States. Well, there you have it, folks. We're not, it's not a foreign terrorist Organization being directed by a, by another country at war with the United States at all, says Donald Trump's intelligence community, at least as of yesterday, the ic, the intelligence community bases this judgment on Venezuelan law enforcement actions demonstrating the regime treats TDA as a threat. Maduro's threatened by the TDA just the way we are. An uneasy mix of cooperation and confrontation. Rather than top down directives characterizing the regime's ties to other armed groups. See this regime, the Maduro regime, when it wants to have a close relationship with armed groups, it knows how. It's just TDA is not one of them. They go on to say that most of the intelligence community judges that intelligence indicating that regime leaders are directing or enabling TDA migration to the United States is not credible. Now, the FBI with Cash Patel, they wanted to differ on a couple of these points. But fundamentally, as they reflect in this memo, even the FBI agrees with the intelligence community assessment and the lack of links between the two entities. Now, Donald Trump hated that because lawyers and parties were able to use that against him and his use of the Alien Enemies Act. I mean, five judges have looked at the Alien Enemies act and Donald Trump's use of it, and four have said it was an illegal, unconstitutional exercise of power. We just had a ruling in Pennsylvania with one judge who said, well, maybe it is, maybe he can do it. Maybe they are an enemy combatant. Now, when you have, when you have that, the memo writers, we now have the new reporting I'm doing on this hot take, they've all been canned. So in particular, let me just read to you who she's fired, which is effectively the authors. She's fired Michael Collins, the acting chair of the National Intelligence Council, as well as his deputy, Maria Langham Rykoff. Another purge of these entities. You know, again, we're just trying to get rid of the truth tellers in the Trump administration and only surround him with sycophants and bootlickers. Here's what Tulsi Gabbard said. The Director is working alongside President Trump to end the weaponization and politicization of the intelligence community. I'm concerned, all right, so that we know, we know why they got rid of them. And the Democrats are concerned because certain ranking members on the House intelligence community said, I'm concerned about the apparent removal of senior leadership at the National Intelligence Council without any explanation except vague accusations made in the media. And this is one week after that memo I just wrote you, it is up on the substack, was released. And this is coming out of some really great Reporting by the Washington Post. But it doesn't surprise me. I mean, the Department of Justice about a month ago fired one of the lawyers who had been there for 12 or 14 years in their immigration unit because he told the truth to Judge Boasberg when he said, yeah, I don't know why those planes were sent to Venezuela, and I'm trying to work with my client to get them returned. And also, yes, Abrego Garcia's rights were violated. He confessed when we sent them to El Salvador when he should not have been, and ICE knew he should not have been sent to El Salvador when we did. That guy lasted another day, and then he was fired by Todd Blanche and Pam Bondi. But this is a part of the resistance, not because I think they did anything wrong, but just because they did put in writing at a critical moment in our history, the national intelligence community, that Donald Trump is lying to the American people. It's sort of like the, you know, the, you know, the leaks that were done during the Vietnam War or during the civil rights movement movement to the New York Times. This is important. And as I've said before, I'll say it one more time, this is the leakiest presidency I've ever seen. And the reason for it is because that's an element of resistance. When all of this information sort of leaks out to the press on purpose. It's a form of resistance. We'll continue to follow it. We're a form of resistance. You're here on the Midas Touch network and on Legal af. Take a minute, hit the subscribe button, come over to Legal AF the substack as well, and you'll find this particular document present there. And of course, on Midas Touch. Subscribe to Midas Touch. Continue to grow this pro democracy channel. We've got Legal AF, YouTube and channel, and Legal AF the podcast, all for your listening, watching and other enjoyment. So until my next report, I'm Michael Popak. Can't get your fill of Legal af. Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF sub stack. 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. What else? 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. 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