Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Chief Judge Loses Patience with Trump at Court Hearing

Episode Date: May 12, 2025

The Chief Judge of the DC District Court just effectively called Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Noem liars during a court hearing, as he loses his patience with the DOJ in court and cross-examines their attorneys about whether the US has control over the El Salvador prison they are sending people to. As the judge tried to figure out whether he could order 250 more people returned to the US, Michael Popok examines Trump’s losing streak in federal courts in the last 72 hours on immigration policies. Thanks to HIMS! Start your free online visit today at https://hims.com/legalaf for your personalized ED treatment options. Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's better than a well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue? A well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue that was carefully selected by an Instacart shopper and delivered to your door. A well-marbled ribeye you ordered without even leaving the kiddie pool. Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered. Download the Instacart app and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver.

Judges watch television. Judges read the paper. Judges see YouTube. And it influences things that happen inside the courtroom, especially when it involves Donald Trump and his administration, such as Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security Director and Secretary. Both of their comments made in the last week or two ended up in Jeb Boesberg's courtroom recently, and Donald Trump's been on a losing streak the last about a week in a series of federal courts about his depraved immigration policy.

And all of them are looking to revelations and confessions made by Trump during his interviews, which have completely undermined his lawsuits. And I'm going to cover it all right here. Connect the dots on Midas Touch. I'm Michael Popak, co-founder of Legal AF. Let me dive right into it. Jeb Boesberg is handling a case that is related adjacent to the Abrego Garcia case. His case has to do with other Venezuelans

not named Abrego Garcia, who were whisked away in the middle of the night in a surreptitious operation to take them to a gulag in El Salvador summarily without any due process. And now we know in a series of Supreme Court decisions that that was all illegal and unconstitutional. Now, against that backdrop, we've got Jeb Boesberg, who even though the Supreme Court took away the main case about him ordering

a series of airplanes to return to the United States that had been sent there, the Supreme Court ruling that those issues were better handled individually by judges in the jurisdictions in which these people last resided by writ of habeas corpus petition. That didn't mean that Chief Judge Boesberg in DC, who was on, he's also the judge, as you may recall, who found probable cause to believe that Donald Trump and his administration were in criminal contempt. That part of the case was sort of taken away from him.

What he's trying to figure out now is, now that the American Civil Liberties Union and a law firm that used to represent until about two weeks ago the Trump administration as Its ethics council joining together to file things In the courtroom with Judge Boesberg and the argument there is the other 250 people who were rotting in that El Salvador Seek-cott Gulag they have due process rights They have Fifth Amendment rights. They have habeas corpus petition rights

that can't be used or exercised while they're in El Salvador. So he's trying to figure out whether he has jurisdiction to order things related to that El Salvadoran prison. The question of control, who controls these prisoners came up in his courtroom. It's come up in the other places too, the other federal courts.

But control is interesting because the American Civil Liberties Union is now arguing, rightly so, that the US and El Salvador have at least joint control over that El Salvadoran prison. And if you have control, then you have the ability to bring somebody back and have them return.

And that's what Bozberg is struggling with. Now in a hearing late this, early this week, sorry, in front of Boasberg, a new lawyer for the Department of Justice, they trotted out, got their head handed to them by the judge. The judge pointed to statements made by Trump and Kristi Noem particularly and then questioned whether they were telling the truth or not. In other words, he called out Trump and Noem and said they weren't telling the truth. He said, let me get this straight as we're trying to figure out who has control over El Salvador. He said, I watched along with the rest of America the interviews that were on, you know,

Kristen Welker, NBC, and Terry Moran on ABC about Donald Trump being able to pick up the phone and get Abrego Garcia back. And why is it that relevant to control? Was he telling the truth? The lawyer said, well, we're conflating how Donald Trump sees his outsized influence around the world with actual legal control. And then the lawyer said, sorry, the judge said, so he wasn't telling the truth, Donald Trump. Oh, well, I don't want to parse that statement. Well, you're there, Mr. Department of Justice attorney, to do exactly that what a federal judge asked you to.

Mr. Department of Justice attorney to do exactly that what a federal judge asked you to. He then said, okay, what about, well, in fact, let me show you the two clips the judge was referring to, almost calling it by name. Again, I had said, every time Donald Trump says something out loud in these interviews, it's gonna be used in the courtrooms. The lawyers are gonna bring it to the judge's attention

and the judges are gonna bring it to the party's attention. Let's play the back to back clips. to bring it to the judges' attention, and the judges are going to bring it to the party's attention. Let's play the back-to-back clips. Kristen Welker first, and then Terry Moran saying the phone's on the desk. Why don't you pick it up and use it? Let's play both back-to-back. Obviously, you've had a back and forth with the Supreme Court. In a nine-to-zero decision, the Supreme Court directed your administration to facilitate

the return. You've talked about this in the past, ofmar Briego Garcia from a president in El Salvador whose deportation your administration called an administrative error. You said in a recent interview you could bring him back, but you won't. Are you defying the Supreme Court? No, I'm relying on the Attorney General of the United States. Pam Bondi was very capable, doing a great job, because I'm not involved in the legality or the illegality.

I have lawyers to do that, and that's why I have a great DOJ. We have a great one. We had a very corrupt one before. Now we have a great one. And they're not viewing the decision the way you said it. They don't view it that way at all. They think it's a totally different decision. Well, you say you have the power to bring him back, though. Your attorney general says,

quote, that's up to El Salvador. Just to put a fine point on this, do you have the power to bring Abrego Garcia back as the supreme president? Well, I have the power to ask for him to come back if I'm instructed by the attorney general that it's legal to do so. But the decision as to whether or not he should come back will be the head of El Salvador, he's a very capable man. Well, you know, and your attorney general has said the issues with that word facilitate. Will you seek clarification from the Supreme Court?

Do you need to go back to the Supreme Court? We may do that. I was asking about that. We may do that. There are some people that say, bring them back, put them in trial and you get them out right away. Let me ask you about one man in one court order, Kilmer Abrego Garcia. He's the Salvadoran man who crossed into this country illegally, but who is under a protective order that he

not be sent back to El Salvador. Your government sent him back to El Salvador and acknowledged in court that was a mistake. And now the Supreme Court has upheld an order that you must return him to facilitate his return to the United States. What are you doing to comply? Well, the lawyer that said it was a mistake was here a long time, was not appointed by us. Should not have said that.

Should not have said that. And just so you understand, the person that you're talking about, you know, you're making this person sound, this is a MS 13 gang member, a tough cookie, been in lots of skirmishes, beat the hell out of his wife. And the wife was petrified to even talk about him. Okay. This is not an innocent, wonderful gentleman from Maryland. I'm not saying he's a good guy. It's about the rule of law. The order from the Supreme Court stands, sir. You came into our country illegally. You could get him back. There's a phone guy. It's about the rule of law the order from the Supreme Court stands came into our country illegally

You could get him back. There's a phone on this desk I could you could pick it up and I got all the power the presidency You could call up the president of El Salvador and say send him back right now And if he were the gentleman that you say he is I would do that But the court has already to facilitate that I'm not the one making this decision We have lawyers don't want to do this. But the buck stops. No, no, no, no. I follow the law. You want me to follow the law. If I were the president that just wanted to do anything, I'd probably keep them right where he is.

So that came up in the courtroom and the lawyers lack of response for it. Feeling a little stalled out in the bedroom? Through hymns, you can get some gas back in the tank with personalized ED treatment options that are accessible without ever stepping foot into a doctor's office. HIMS is changing men's healthcare by providing you with access to affordable sexual health treatments from the comfort of your couch. HIMS provides access to a range of doctor-trusted ED treatments like chewable tablets, Viagra, and Cialis and their generics for up to 95% less. The process is 100% online, so there's no need for uncomfortable doctor's visits.

Just fill out an intake form on their site, and a medical provider will determine the right treatment option. If prescribed, your medication ships directly to you for free. No insurance is needed and one low price covers everything from treatments to ongoing care. With hundreds of thousands of trusted subscribers, HIMS can help you find the ED option that works for you. Start your free online visit today at hims.com slash legal AF.

That's H-I-M-S dot com slash legal AF. That's H I M S dot com slash legal AF for your personalized ED treatment options. Hims.com slash legal AF. And the lawyer had for the Department of Justice had no better response when he said let's go back to control again. And didn't Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary, in standing in front of that actual jail in El Salvador called CICOT, didn't she say that it was part of the toolbox of America? This was a tool in the toolbox. America's use of this El Salvador prison, doesn't that imply control? And in fact, let me play the clip.

You will be removed and you will be prosecuted. But know that this facility is one of the tools in our toolkit that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people. The judge says, you heard her. Tool in a toolbox. Well, the political, the nuances are lost sometimes on politicians about, it doesn't really mean legal control. So she wasn't telling the truth. Well, I wouldn't say that. I'm not going to parse every statement.

You are there, sir, to parse every statement or whatever else the judge tells you to do. So while the judge is trying to figure this out and is having difficulty, he finally put up his hands. He said, okay, I'm not getting straight answers in this courtroom. The judge is already getting fed up with the Trump administration, having already found them in a likelihood of criminal contempt. He said, starting now, you're going to be submitting to me by next week for the world to see. Written statements under oath about the relationship between America and El Salvador, the payment structure, the contract, the agreement,

whatever it is that allowed America to take people, other human beings without due process and dump them into a jail. I wanna see all of that information and those documents. He said, for instance, we've heard that there was a $6 million payment made for this and the lawyers tried to tap dance around that. Oh, well, that was really a grant,

follow this convoluted argument, that was really a grant that went to the El Salvador and they could use it for whatever they wanted while they're housing. But it's not directly for the housing of these prisoners. See how convoluted, and they did this on purpose, to try to cover their tracks, you know, how they wired the money.

But now the judge is like, okay, by next week I want it under oath. Because what he's trying to do at this moment is not trying to find out whether the Trump administration is in contempt again. He's trying to confirm whether he has jurisdiction. That's a very important part of what judges do. At the outset, a party, there's two things a judge has to check the box on right away in a lawsuit, there's two things a judge has to check the box on right away in a lawsuit, federal or state. One, do the parties before me have a live case or controversy because the parties

also have standing to sue, to present their claims. They're not asking me for an advisory opinion. They have real injury and they're the right party to bring that case into court. Standing is first, and at the same time, does the court have jurisdiction? Are we in the right courtroom? Are we in the right courthouse? Are we in the right court between state and federal? Do I have jurisdiction? And are these the right parties

with a live case or controversy in front of me? Check, check, check, right? I guess it's three things there. Once that's determined, so that's what the judge is struggling with now. Do I have jurisdiction? Can I order something to happen here? And so the ACLU said, yes, there's badges of all of this control over that prison in

the hands of the US. I mean, does anybody really believe Donald Trump just backed the other human beings into a prison, paid $6 million and didn't get a receipt? I mean, seriously. So we're going to continue to follow what Boasberg does. The other backdrop here is the losing streak that the Trump administration has been on in the last 72 hours. You have four separate federal judges who have all declared one way or the other that Donald Trump illegally triggered the Alien Enemies Act. He said it was a predatory incursion of armed combatants as a proxy war with Venezuela. None of that is true. And

the judges now, including two Trump-appointed judges, we have Sweeney, we have Judge Sweeney, we have Judge Rodriguez, we have Judge Hellerstein, and a fourth judge. They all ruled in four different courtrooms, four different states, almost identically, that what we're watching with the Tren de Aragua Narcotics Gang is not a war, but it's just migration. They got into the country and they committed crimes. That's not Alien Enemies Act warlike predatory incursion that needs to be repelled by a president. So that's four judges now. And then they're all going to get appealed to their various appellate courts above them. The Second Circuit, the Fifth Circuit, Colorado is the, I wanna say the Sixth Circuit. And so those circuits, then up on an emergency application

altogether probably to the United States Supreme Court. So you got that losing streak going on. At the same time, you got the losing streak of the federal judges who have ruled against Donald Trump's deportation of graduate students because they say they're Hamas sympathizers and while they're exercising their First Amendment right. And then trying to get them away from more moderate and liberal courts by sending them two and three states in a night to get them as far away from those

courts as possible. And the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has said, bring these people back to Vermont and away from Louisiana. See, Donald Trump wants to put them in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals because he thinks that's a winning hand for him. And federal judges are seeing it and saying, bring them back to New York and Vermont. So we're going to continue to follow this, but there's no other way. Donald Trump is pressing a losing hand, both with the American people, who in voting polls

say unequivocally that Donald Trump is a disaster on immigration, that they don't appreciate or like what he's doing, especially in defiance of courts, and his attack on the United States Supreme Court is not working. And now you know what he's going do. You know, he's gonna go after Pope Leo. You know, he already I'm sure sees Leo as an enemy. All of Donald Trump's proxies like Laura Loomer and all the rest are saying, oh he's a Marxist, he's a leftist, he's just like Francis. I mean, Laura Loomer is not even Catholic to be commenting. This is who the conclave picked. Donald Trump impacts

elections. Donald Trump impacts elections, even of the Papal variety. Does anybody think that that wasn't a message sent back to America and to Donald Trump during the Trump era? They picked a guy, Leo, who when he was Cardinal and Bishop, Prevostost was very public about going after Donald Trump appropriately and MAGA about their, I was saying unholy, their depraved stance on immigration, on migrants, their attack on people, their lack of gun control. Prevost constantly retweeted, re-commented on his social media in things that were against MAGA primary policy.

So of course MAGA is upset with Leo, who is seen as a moral leader of the world and a perfect foil in the time of Trump for Trump. Trump impacts elections. And so you've got his depraved immigration policy. He's now going to turn and try to attack Pope Leo, pissing off not just Catholics, all those that believe in fair-minded people and people of God one way or the other. So, Boesberg's got his hands full. I think he's going to ultimately rule that he's got jurisdiction and he's going to keep the case, which is about getting 250 other people out of El Salvador back to the United

States for their proper due process, not to release them on the streets, just to give them notice and a hearing before a judge, before they are deported or removed again. And then this issue of whether that El Salvador is an appropriate place for them, that's for other cases that have been brought through the pipeline that we're covering here on the Midas Touch Network and on LegalAF. Just formed a new substack, LegalAF substack, got all these great cases and postings there and a great commentary and analysis and videos you can't find anywhere else and of course LegalAF, the YouTube channel LegalAF MTN. So until my next report, I'm

Michael Pofock. roundup that I do call, wait for it, Morning AF. What else? All the other contributors from Legal AF are there as well. We've got some new reporting, we got interviews, we got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes. Where? Legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.