New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin on Lawsuit Against Trump Scheme

Summary

The MeidasTouch Podcast: New Jersey Attorney General Matt Plotkin on Lawsuit Against Trump Scheme

Release Date: June 19, 2025
Episode Title: New Jersey Attorney General Matt Plotkin on Lawsuit Against Trump Scheme

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Introduction

In this episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast, the Meiselas brothers engage in a critical discussion about recent legal actions undertaken by Democratic Attorney Generals against the Trump administration. Focusing on a lawsuit initiated by New Jersey Attorney General Matt Plotkin, the conversation delves into the implications of the Trump regime's settlement agreements, particularly concerning gun control and public safety.

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Trump Administration's Settlement Agreements and Their Implications

[01:00] Political Commentator:
The episode begins with the political commentator highlighting the chaos and disorder purportedly caused by the Trump administration. He criticizes the use of settlement agreements as a means to bypass the legislative process, especially in contexts where the administration is perceived to undermine federal agencies. A focal point of contention is the Department of Justice (DOJ) entering into settlements with participants of the January 6th insurrection, which the commentator argues undermines the agencies' purposes and burdens taxpayers with extensive lawsuits.

Key Points:

• Settlement agreements used to circumvent Congress and the lawmaking process.
• DOJ's settlements with January 6th insurrectionists, leading to significant lawsuits.
• Trump's budget plans potentially increasing the national debt by tens of trillions of dollars.

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Controversial Settlement on Machine Gun Conversion Devices

The conversation shifts to a specific and highly contentious settlement involving the distribution of machine gun conversion devices.

[04:36] Jay Scott Smith:
Jay Scott Smith explains that a lawsuit was filed in Maryland by 16 state attorneys general, including Michigan's Dana Nessel, aiming to block a federal settlement. This settlement would permit the sale of forced reset triggers—devices that convert semi-automatic weapons into machine guns, which are illegal in states like Michigan.

[05:22] Jay Scott Smith:
He underscores the danger of these devices, stating, "The settlement was reached on May 16 and would require the ATF to return the triggers that had been previously seized during the Biden administration or voluntarily surrendered to the government."

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Attorney General Matt Plotkin's Critique

[06:12] Matt Plotkin:
New Jersey Attorney General Matt Plotkin joins the discussion to vehemently oppose the settlement. He describes the administration's actions as "totally insane" and "reckless," highlighting that machine guns have been illegal in the U.S. for decades. Plotkin emphasizes that the ATF's decision to distribute these conversion devices bypasses legal processes and endangers public safety.

Notable Quotes:

• Plotkin: "These machine guns have been illegal in this country for decades... this is an unprecedented, reckless, and incredibly dangerous action."

[08:11] Matt Plotkin:
He further elaborates on the lack of transparency in the settlement, stating, "they won't even tell us who the parties of the settlement are." Plotkin expresses deep concern over the potential distribution of these devices to violent individuals, which could exacerbate gun violence and undermine community safety.

Notable Quotes:

• Plotkin: "Their policy... is putting machine guns... into the hands of potentially violent individuals across this country as well as to sellers and resellers."

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Broader Implications and Call for Accountability

[10:06] Matt Plotkin:
Plotkin discusses the broader implications of the settlement, highlighting how it forces the return of thousands of machine gun conversion devices to communities without proper oversight. He warns that this policy could enable violent offenders to access highly lethal weapons, posing a significant threat to public safety.

Notable Quotes:

• Plotkin: "We're putting machine guns... into the hands of potentially violent individuals... And that is a really scary thing for the public."

[12:40] Matt Plotkin:
He concludes by criticizing the gun lobby's influence, asserting that such settlements only benefit those profiting from gun sales without enhancing public safety. Plotkin calls for greater transparency and legal accountability to prevent the proliferation of these dangerous devices.

Notable Quotes:

• Plotkin: "These forced reset triggers... have killed law enforcement officers. They're incredibly deadly and lethal weapons."

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Conclusion

The episode culminates with a strong denunciation of the Trump administration's strategies to redistribute machine gun conversion devices, as critiqued by Attorney General Matt Plotkin. The Meiselas brothers underscore the urgency of legal actions taken by state attorneys general to halt these policies, emphasizing the broader implications for democracy and public safety.

Listeners are encouraged to stay informed and advocate for transparent governance to protect their communities from policies that threaten the foundational values of democracy and safety.

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Note: This summary excludes advertisements, intros, outros, and non-content sections to focus solely on the substantive discussions of the podcast episode.

Transcript

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[Political Commentator]

All of the chaos and disorder the Trump regime is causing here in the United States, I don't want to get distracted from other things that the Trump regime is doing. You know, they're entering into these settlement agreements. You all know the same way Donald Trump basically tries to use executive order as end run around Congress and like the lawmaking process. But one of the other things that he's doing is he's basically having the agencies, a lot of which he's trying to gut and destroy. But the one function why he's kind of keeping some of these agencies on life support is he's having them enter into settlement agreements on behalf of the agency. That basically undermines the entire agency's purpose. I'll tell you what I mean about that in a minute. Also, he has, like the DOJ entering into settlement agreements with January 6th insurrectionist. You all know that the family of Ashley Babbitt received millions of dollars that then invited a hundred million dollar lawsuit by the leaders of the Proud Boys. And they're all out there saying, look, Trump's settling these cases with other insurrectionists. He's saying that we're political prisoners and hostages. Hey, Judge, just take judicial notice. The President of the United States is saying that we're hostages. So clearly we should get $100 million. And even if the $100 million payment is not made to the leaders of the Proud Boys, and we'll see what ends up happening with that lawsuit. The taxpayers now have to deal with all of this. And this is as Trump's disastrous budget is sure to increase our debt by tens of trillions of dollars. I wanna talk about this other settlement that I think is not getting Enough attention. But the attorney generals are making sure, the Democratic attorney generals are making sure that we focus on this because it's very important. So one of the things that the Trump regime is trying to do is distribute back into communities, into cities and towns, thousands of machine gun conversion devices across the country. So here's what happened. Under the Biden administration, the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Agency, the ATF entered into action, administrative action, where it basically confiscated a lot of these forced reset trigger devices and basically said people can't use them. The Trump regime reversed that. They just entered into a settlement agreement where they said on behalf of the atf, not only can these machine gun conversion devices be used once again, but to the extent the ATF has confiscated, you know, these devices, send them right back into the communities, push them right back into the cities, you know, and these are turning these semiautomatic weapons into machine guns. And this is a major issue. You add that with the fact that the MAGA Republicans in Congress want to like, remove the regulations for silencers as part of their disastrous budget bill, and you just have to ask, what the hell are they doing? Let me just show you this clip. This is from. You can just see how it's impacting Michigan. We'll talk about how it's impacting all of the states. But here, play this clip. The Attorney General is one of 16 AGS suing to block a federal settlement and that would actually allow the sale of devices that can turn regular guns into machine guns. And that is what's getting so much attention. Jay Scott Smith is live in Southfield with more on this controversial case. Jay?

[Jay Scott Smith]

Yes, indeed. Now this is actually seen as an about face by the federal government. And the suit is meant to make sure that a dangerous weapon doesn't get scarier. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Maryland on Monday. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel was one of 15 state attorneys general, along with the D.C. attorney general to sign on to the suit. Now the states are suing to stop a settlement that would allow for the sale of forced reset triggers, which are illegal in the state of Michigan. And they allow a semi automatic weapon, typically an AR15, to fire at a faster rate, effectively turning it into a machine gun.

[Political Commentator]

It causes the weapon to fire more rapidly.

[Jay Scott Smith]

And a weapon that fires that rapidly.

[Matt Plotkin]

It allows you to hit multiple targets.

[Jay Scott Smith]

The settlement was reached on May 16 and would require the ATF to return the triggers that had been previously seized during the Biden administration or voluntarily surrendered to the government. And while this is seen as a victory For Second Amendment advocates, this could be bad news for law enforcement agencies across the country, including here in southeast Michigan.

[Political Commentator]

Let's bring in Matt Plotkin, New Jersey Attorney General. You know, when I watch this Attorney General Plotkin, and I see just even what. What the weapon is capable of, of doing when it has this device and it's converted into a machine gun, and I think the Trump regime is entering into these settlement agreements to get these into cities. I. Look, I'm all for the Second Amendment. I'm all for people owning guns and protecting their families. I look at that, though, and I go, who. Who wants that? What is going on?

[Matt Plotkin]

Yeah, look, first, thanks for having me. And I think it's fair to say that this is a totally insane thing that the administration is doing, not through any form of legal process, not through a rulemaking or a new law, but through a collusive settlement with a friendly party in the gun industry. And I've been involved in the gun violence prevention efforts and movement for over two decades now, and I never thought I'd have to sue the federal government to keep them from putting machine guns, machine guns, into the hands of 12,000 people across the country at a time when what we're doing is saving lives. So all this talk about law and order. Look, machine guns have been illegal in this country for decades, and the ATF has treated machine gun conversion devices like the devices we're talking about here that you just showed as machine guns for decades. And so this is an unprecedented, reckless, and incredibly dangerous action that they're taking.

[Political Commentator]

I want to flag the point you made there, though, is that, look, if Congress thinks this is so massively popular, machine guns for everybody, walk down your school, see, you know, people with machine guns in front, like, if y' all want that and you think that's what your constituents want, okay, go and pass legislation or. Or go through the rulemaking process in an agency and make it public. Explain what you're doing. But just like with the executive orders, what the Trump regime is doing is they go, oh, here's how we get around it. We're in a lawsuit with the gun lobby, so let's just have a private mediation as though we're adversaries with the gun lobby. And then we'll enter into a settlement agreement. And a settlement agreement will now be the government's position, because you sued us. Oopsies. We lose, you win. And then they're delivering what they want, what the gun lobby wants. But where there should have been legislation.

[Matt Plotkin]

Yeah. And I think what's Crazy about, particularly crazy about this settlement is they won't even tell us who the parties of the settlement are. They're going to give back these machine gun conversion devices. And notwithstanding what anybody tries to tell you, that's what they turn firearms into. Something capable of firing 900 rounds a minute, the equivalent of even faster, frankly, than an M16 military grade machine gun. And so they're going to give back, through this policy, these machine gun conversion devices to people across the country as well as to sellers and resellers who would sell them into states like New Jersey where machine guns are illegal. Even if Congress changed the law, New Jersey has a law banning machine guns because who needs a machine gun? It's consistent with the second amendment. Even the folks challenging the regulations around bump stocks, when they got up to the supreme Court, they said, no, no, no, frts, these machine gun conversion devices are different. We're not talking about those, we're talking about bump stocks. So even they recognize that these are something that the federal government can regulate. And yet here we are at a time when supposedly we care about public safety and law and order. We're putting machine guns, which have one purpose and one purpose only, which is to kill as many people as fast as possible into the hands of potentially violent individuals across this country.

[Political Commentator]

It's so, it's so interesting you said that because when I was, you know, preparing to do this interview, I was trying to read the articles and say, who, who are they settling with? Like who. Who are the signatories? And I couldn't, I couldn't find it. So I was wondering, you know, did I not do the research? But that's why even in my opening, I try to hedge as a settlement agreement. So, I mean, you bring the lawsuit, you don't really even know who the settlement agreement with, who the signatories are. And as a lawyer, as an attorney general, the most basic things you need to know when parties enter into a settlement agreement, I don't know who are the parties to it?

[Matt Plotkin]

Well, there's two issues here. One is there was a lawsuit that they're purporting to settle which has a bunch of organizations that are supposedly a part of it, including third parties, and they won't tell us who they are. And then there's a bigger issue, which is that they're not just settling the lawsuit, they're implementing this policy that's going to put these machine gun conversion devices into the hands of anyone, regardless of whether they were party to the settlement. 12,000 that the ATF has collected over the years. And it takes about a day or two to identify and dismantle one of these and make sure that that's what we're dealing with. They're putting those into hands across the country, and they're not telling us who they're going to give it to. So it very well could be violent domestic violence offenders or other violent individuals, and that is a really scary thing for the public. And as the chief law enforcement officer, whose job is to keep our residents safe at a time when we have historic low levels of gun violence in New Jersey. Yeah, we're going to court to make sure the federal government cannot be a machine gun distributor to violent felons. I can't believe I have to say that, but that's what we're doing, you.

[Political Commentator]

Know, and that is kind of the final point that, you know, the way the federal government is operating now, you know, reminds me of when I was in private practice as a lawyer, and you would deal with a corporation that would claim everything is a trade secret, and they wouldn't give you any information during discovery, and they would just try to obstruct and shut everything down just through those types of games. It's just so odd. Seeing odds. Perhaps not the right word. Seeing the federal government say, we don't need to tell you who the people are, who's involved, who the parties are. We're not sharing any of that information with you. And I'm like, this is. You work for us. Sorry. You are. You're the. You're the public. You know, and you see that with Doge, you know, at every step of the way. We're the most transparent. Okay, well, you want to sit for a deposition, we. Or go testify in Congress to tell us what the hell you're doing? Nope, nope. Executive privilege. We're not doing that. So it must be. Not just in this case, though, but for you, kind of frustrating as you're trying to get access to info and they're playing the kind of corporate shell game you probably see in private litigation and which Trump played when he was a private litigant, when he would bring cases, drag the cases out as long as possible, you know, delay, delay, delay. Maybe it'll last four years if you use all of the tricks and never give anybody any information.

[Matt Plotkin]

Yeah. Look, there's one party that is happy about this, and it's. It's the gun lobby and the gun industry who paid, let's be honest, they paid blood money to the Trump administration and to President Trump, and they're getting their repayment because the only people this serves are people who profit off bloodshed. I can tell you who's not happy about it because I've spoken to a lot of them, law enforcement officers. These forced reset triggers, these machine guns that they create, have killed law enforcement officers. They're incredibly deadly and lethal weapons, as you showed. And so it just makes no sense to me at a time when we're supposedly trying to combat crime, particularly violent crime, when what we've done in New Jersey has worked, when no one can make a really colorable argument that these are set protected by the Second Amendment, when for decades we've treated machine guns as something we can regulate under the Second Amendment for good reason, that this is in any way enhancing public safety. It pads the pockets of gun manufacturers that produce these things, but doesn't make any Americans safe, doesn't make our cops safe, doesn't make our community safe. And I think that should alarm every American.

[Political Commentator]

New Jersey Attorney General Matt Plotkin, thanks for joining us.

[Matt Plotkin]

Thanks so much for having me, everybody.

[Political Commentator]

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