Legal AF by MeidasTouch: "Trump Prosecutor Caught Red-Handed as Entire Plan Falls Apart"

Date: November 20, 2025
Host: Michael Popok (MeidasTouch/Legal AF, National Trial Lawyer Strategist)
Guests/Panel: Focus primarily on Michael Popok’s reporting

Episode Overview

In this urgent, breaking-news episode, Michael Popok provides an incisive, up-to-the-minute analysis of a dramatic federal court hearing in the high-profile DOJ prosecution of ex-FBI Director James Comey. The episode zeroes in on grave issues—including mishandling of indictments, allegations of vindictive prosecution directed by Donald Trump, and the exposure of prosecutorial misconduct—threatening to unravel the DOJ’s case and potentially end Comey’s legal jeopardy entirely.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Hearing: A Judge Turns Prosecutor into Witness

Setting: Eastern District of Virginia, Judge Nachmanoff presiding.
The hearing was intended as a motion to dismiss for vindictive prosecution. Instead, Judge Nachmanoff flipped the script, making the DOJ prosecutor ("Lindsey Halligan") testify about the origins and validity of Comey’s indictment.

"When a federal judge turns a prosecutor for Donald Trump into a witness for the defense... that's a bad day in court."
—Michael Popok [02:15]

2. Grand Jury Irregularities: The Missing Transcripts and Invalid Indictment

Judge Nachmanoff aggressively sought the truth behind the missing grand jury transcript and the mysterious emergence of a "second" indictment.
Halligan admitted: She did not reconvene the grand jury for the second indictment; only two members signed, far short of the minimum 14 required for an indictment.
Instead, the indictment appeared cobbled together by removing a failed charge and re-signing paperwork, not following proper legal procedure.
- Result: If the indictment is invalid, Comey is immediately off the hook due to expired statute of limitations.

"She just cut and pasted it and she never pulled the grand jury back together again because they'd all gone home. That renders the indictment, ladies and gentlemen, invalid. We call it void ab initio—from the start."
—Michael Popok [09:00]

3. Prosecutorial Puppet Strings: Was Halligan Doing Trump’s Bidding?

Judge pressed on whether Halligan, appointed after a Trump social media demand, was his direct puppet.
Tyler Lemons, novice prosecutor, awkwardly denied she was a 'puppet', but cited no independent basis for her actions.
Recent (leaked) Trump DM to Pam Bondi instructs Halligan's use to target political adversaries, bolstering allegations of vindictive prosecution.

"She's not a puppet because I say she's not a puppet. That's a problem when a federal judge questions your independence as a prosecutor and whether you are a puppet for your boss, Donald Trump."
—Michael Popok [10:00]

4. Secret DOJ Memo & Vindictive Motive

Revelation of a secret DOJ memo in which career prosecutors recommended not bringing charges against Comey.
DOJ is refusing to turn it over, on direct order from Todd Blanche (DOJ No. 2)—fueling questions about the political motivation for prosecuting Comey.

5. Judicial Demands & Deadlines

Judge Nachmanoff orders DOJ to file, by 5:00pm Wednesday, a written explanation for the existence of two indictments and their validity.
The judge promises a decision on vindictive prosecution possibly as soon as Thanksgiving.
Parallel: Judge Curry is also evaluating legitimacy of Halligan’s appointment, with dismissal/disqualification on the table.

6. Predicted Outcome and Aftermath

Popok gives a clear assessment: Indictment will likely be dismissed as invalid; DOJ is out of time for new charges (“game over” for prosecution).
He calls for professional discipline of Halligan and Lemons for misleading the court.

"I think James Comey is on the right side of the angels here. I think his indictment will be dismissed... And then the judge should make a referral to the bar associations for discipline of Lindsey Halligan and Tyler Lemons for misleading the court."
—Michael Popok [12:00]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote/Description | |-----------|---------|------------------| | 02:15 | Michael Popok | "When a federal judge turns a prosecutor for Donald Trump into a witness for the defense... that's a bad day in court." | | 09:00 | Michael Popok | "She just cut and pasted it and she never pulled the grand jury back together again... That renders the indictment… invalid." | | 10:00 | Michael Popok | "That's a problem when a federal judge questions your independence as a prosecutor and whether you are a puppet for your boss, Donald Trump." | | 12:00 | Michael Popok | "I think James Comey is on the right side of the angels here. I think his indictment will be dismissed..." |

Timeline of Key Segments

[02:15] – Popok summarizes the hearing’s explosive developments and outlines the irregularities with the indictments.
[05:00-10:00] – Detailed breakdown of Halligan’s courtroom admissions, grand jury procedural violations, and judge’s incredulity.
[10:00-12:00] – Vindictive prosecution, DOJ memo withholding, and speculation on the impact for all involved parties.
[12:00-13:43] – Popok’s concluding predictions and forceful calls for discipline against DOJ prosecutors.

Tone and Style

True to Legal AF’s signature, Popok’s tone is prosecutorial, wry, and urgent—mixing legal precision, dark humor (“Lemons couldn’t make lemonade”), and unflinching criticism of the DOJ’s conduct. He delivers commentary in clear, direct language meant to be accessible to legally-savvy and general audiences alike.

Summary Takeaway

This episode delivers an in-depth, real-time legal autopsy of a DOJ prosecution that appears to be collapsing under scrutiny. With Judge Nachmanoff exposing procedural shortcuts and possible political motivation, the Comey indictment stands on the brink of dismissal—a dramatic setback for Trump-aligned prosecutors and a potential harbinger of accountability for governmental abuse. Popok’s coverage is essential listening for anyone tracking law and politics at the highest levels.

Transcript

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Michael Popak (2:15)

When a federal judge turns a prosecutor for Donald Trump into a witness for the defense in harsh questioning about whether an indictment was properly obtained or not. Whether the grand jury even saw the indictment that was presented to a magistrate judge to represent the new charges against former FBI director James Comey, that's a bad day in court. And when her colleague, another novice prosecutor, basically admits about the existence of a secret memo that the Department of Justice wants to keep from the defense but that we all know about from reporting in which career prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia recommended against bringing a case against former FBI Director James Comey for perjury or anything else. And that novice prosecutor has to look the judge in the eye and say he's been instructed by Todd Blanche, the number two in the Department of Justice, not to turn it over. That's a bad day in court. And that's the day that was had by the Department of Justice in front of Judge Nachmanoff in Eastern District of Virginia. And the hearing wasn't even about those two issues, but the judge turned it into it and turned it into an evidentiary hearing and effectively an indictment against the Trump Department of Justice. I'm Michael Popak traveling today on report. I'm interviewing 11 attorneys general on the Democratic side, but took time out, of course, to give you the breaking news in the Comey case. You're here on Midas Touch Network and on Legal af. Take a moment and hit the free subscribe button. All right. Big hearing today in front of the actual district court judge, Judge Nakmanoff. We've been reporting in the last 48 hours about a case in front of the magistrate judge that reports to Judge Nakmanoff, Judge Fitzgerald. But this was about, at least on paper, it was supposed to be the day that the motion to dismiss for vindictive prosecution was heard by the federal judge. Instead, the federal judge, pardon me, guys, instead, the federal judge used the opportunity to put Lindsey Halligan effectively on the stand. Lindsey Halligan hasn't really been heard from in the courtroom. In fact, she's made no substantive comments at all. She's let the others do the talking for her. But the judge wasn't having it today. And the first thing he wanted to get to the bottom of is that missing grand jury transcript. What happened during that fateful two hours between 4:30 and 6:30 when the first indictment and the second indictment came into fruition? What's the origin story behind the second indictment? Why is there a second indictment? Who signed it and did the grand jury actually approve of it? Because if they didn't, and the document that we now all think is the indictment is actually a figment of our imagination because it wasn't properly endorsed by a grand jury, then James Comey gets to go home a free man to have his indictment quashed and no new charges brought against him because the statute of limitations has already run on those perjury charges. Yes, they had to get it done within a five day window to get that indictment. And it had to be a proper indictment. Otherwise there's no indictment at all. I'm Michael Popak let's talk about the hearing today in front of Judge Nakhmedoff. Present for the Comey side, Michael Dreeben. For the Halligan Department of Justice side, Lindsey Halligan and Tyler Lemons. And no, he was not able to make lemonade out of lemons. You knew that was coming. So the judge started off with, let's get to the bottom of the missing transcript. Is there a transcript of how you obtained the second indictment? And Halligan had to admit she didn't obtain the second indictment by going back to the members of the grand jury because they had already gone home. There were only two left when she needed to fix her problem. A jury, four person and another juror. That's a little short. You need 14 in order to indict. Now, she had two indictments. We knew this was a problem from day one. The magistrate judge at the time, about three weeks ago, four weeks ago, said, why are there two indictments that you both signed? She said, there aren't. And the magistrate judge said to Lindsey Halligan, there are. And she showed her the signatures. Now, what appears to have happened is they took the first indictment, they cut and pasted, they removed the count related to the count that the jury, the grand jury, did not return a true bill of indictment on. And they had the jury foreperson and the grand juror, sorry, the grand jury foreperson and another grand juror sign on the dotted line. That's not how you return a true bill of indictment. In fact, Michael Dreeben, the lawyer for James Comey, jumped up and down and said, we have no indictment, your honor. And if there's no indictment, and it wasn't brought by the 5th of September 2025 on a five year statute of limitations came over for the Department of Justice. This is important. So Halligan had to admit that the affidavit that she filed Judge Curry was technically true, except for one aspect that left her to be a liar. Once again, everyone acts like they fully understand AI and meanwhile, I'm over here arguing with my smart fridge. If you feel that way too, that's where Udacity comes in. This podcast is sponsored by Udacity. Want to learn skills that command high salaries? Udacity is an online learning platform with courses in AI and tech and including Generative AI, Agentic AI, Python, Data science, and much more. Instead of wasting time on random YouTube videos or prompting ChatGPT, Udacity cuts the guesswork. 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Head to udacity.com legalaf and use code code legal af for 40% off your order. Once again, that's udacity.com backslash legal af for 40% off and make sure you use my promo code legal af so they know I sent you. She told a judge who's handling whether she was properly appointed as the U.S. attorney or not. She told the judge in a filing last week, along with Pam Bondi, that she had no further contact with the grand jury at all between 4:30 and 6:30. That's why there's no transcript, because they were deliberating. Well, that's not true, as noted by the magistrate judge in the case for James Comey, Magistrate Judge Fitzgerald. He said that I'm sorry Fitzpatrick, that couldn't possibly be true because how did you learn the first indictment was not returned by the grand jury if you didn't have contact with the grand jury? And where is the transcript where you had contact with the grand jury? Where is the transcript about the second indictment? Well now, after grilling today, Lindsey Halligan, he got to the bottom of it. She just cut and pasted it and she never pulled the grand jury back together again because they'd all gone home. That renders the indictment, ladies and gentlemen, invalid. We call it void abnicio from the start and it should be dismissed. The judge also questioned whether Lindsey Halligan was a puppet or not. And that led to a very uncomfortable exchange by one Tyler Lemons, also a novice prosecutor who just got sworn in as a special prosecutor for the Department of Justice like the other day. And he said, no, she's not a puppet. She's completely independent. She didn't take a command from Donald Trump, a fiat, if you will, to indict James Comey and Letitia James based on nothing. That was just naked argument of counsel. She's not a puppet because I say she's not a puppet. That's a problem when a federal judge questions your independence as a prosecutor and whether you are a puppet for your boss, Donald Trump. Now we all know about the late September social media post where Donald Trump demanded the indictment of all of his political critics. Shifty Adam Schiff, the senator from California, Letitia James, the New York attorney general, and here of James Comey and use Lindsey Halligan, he said in this message to Pam Bondi. We also know from the Wall Street Journal that that message was supposed to be a private message, a direct message to Pam Bondi, although it got publicly posted. So the judge wants to know how is this not on vindictive prosecution? How is this not Halligan, who was handpicked by Donald Trump in the social media post to be the prosecutor after Eric Seibert, the prior prosecutor, quit or was fired because he refused to bring the indictment? How is that not vindictive prosecution? How is she not just being a puppet? No good answer came from that. So Judge Nakhmedoff ordered that by five o' clock later on Wednesday that there be a filing by the Department of Justice to explain why there's two indictments and how the second indictment came to being and if the second indictment came to being the way it was laid out in the courtroom, why that indictment shouldn't be dismissed. Big filing coming, folks. We'll follow it very closely on Legal AF YouTube and on Legal if substack for you to keep you up to breast or up to date and abreast of that particular matter. Judge said, I'm going to get to the bottom of this vindictive prosecution. My ruling will be coming not, you know, not immediately, but certainly I think it'll come around Thanksgiving. And at the same time, we're waiting for whether the judge Curry about whether Lindsey Halligan was illegally appointed or not, whether she's going to dismiss Lindsey Halligan and disqualify her and take the indictment with it. So we have multiple judges looking at the indictment and the grand jury proceedings and deciding whether the indictment survives or not. Let me cut to the chase. I think James Comey is on the right side of the angels here. I think his indictment will be dismissed because it's not a true bill of indictment returned by a grand jury at all. I think the statute of limitations is running so they can't try to re indict him with a new grand jury. And I think game over. And then the judge should make a referral to the various bar associations for discipline of Lindsey Halligan and even of this Tyler Lemons for misleading the court, for a fraud on the court, for prosecutorial misconduct and abuse. That's what should happen. We'll continue to follow it all right here on the Midas Touch Network and on Legal af. Take a moment, hit the free subscribe button here on Midas. Come over to Legal AF YouTube and help us get to the 1 million subscriber threshold. With your help we will. So until my next report, I'm Michael Popak.