Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser Discusses New Lawsuits Against Trump

Episode Date: June 19, 2026

Popok is joined by Colorado AG and candidate for Governor Phil Weiser to update on his hiring spree of now former DOJ lawyers to join the fight against the Trump Administration as he files his 66 case against Trump nationwide. They also discuss a new lawsuit to stop Trump from firing minorities off federal contracts. https://coag.gov/ https://philforcolorado.com/about/ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@LegalAFMTN?sub_confirmation=1 Become a member of Legal AF YouTube community: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgZJZZbnLFPr5GJdCuIwpA/join Become a member of the Legal AF Substack: https://michaelpopok.substack.com/20off Follow Legal AF on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/legalafmtn.bsky.social Follow Michael Popok on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mspopok.bsky.social Subscribe to the Legal AF podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/legal-af-by-meidastouch/id1580828595 Subscribe to the Intersection with Michael Popok podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-intersection-with-michael-popok/id1818863274 Subscribe to Unprecedented with Michael Popok and Dina Doll podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unprecedented-by-legal-af/id1867023089 Subscribe to Court of History with Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-court-of-history/id1867022920 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seriously, why aren't Democrats in Washington doing more to stop Trump? I know. Have you heard about Phil Weiser and Colorado, though? No. Is he different? Yeah, A.G. Weiser sued the Trump administration 65 times. He's beating Trump in court again and again. Things like protecting Obamacare against Trump's illegal tariffs, and he even won against Ticketmaster. So he actually gets results. Exactly. As governor, Phil will fight for Colorado. Paid for by Phil Weiser for Colorado registered agent in Nand and Nostasy.

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No, is he different? Yeah, A.G. Weiser sued the Trump administration 65 times. He's beating Trump in court again and again. Things like protecting Obamacare against Trump's elite. legal tariffs, and he even won against Ticketmaster. So he actually gets results. Exactly. As Governor Phil will fight for Colorado.

Paid for by Phil Weiser for Colorado registered agent in Nguesskese. Welcome to a special edition of Legal A.F. We say often that the federal government Department of Justice's loss with their purge of talent from the Department of Justice is other people's gain, especially the Democratic Attorney's General. and no attorney general is on a hiring spree to hire that talent and bring it into a state law department more than our next guest, Colorado's Attorney General, Phil Weiser.

Hi, Phil. Michael, it's great to be with you as always. I'm looking at the New York Times. I mean, I'm really glued to the New York Times lately between the leaks in the Situation Room and maybe secret recordings and other reporting. And there, in one of my paper editions, I see your smiling face surrounded with a bunch of fresh-faced attorneys of various vintages from the Department of Justice.

And I'm like, oh, we've got to talk to our audience about this because they're wondering where those people are going and how they're being used. That's probably to an advantage. And around the same time, I learned about a couple of cases involving Colorado that I wanted to brief our audience on as well, which is this massive case you filed in, in, let me just check. In Maryland, in Maryland about federal contractors and, you know, 66,000 federal contracts or sorry, 640,000 federal contracts. And Donald Trump's attempt to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion, get rid of minority contractors and subcontractors and vendors. I guess he just wants an all white contracting force, but that's not the way the law

runs or works. And I think you have a new lawsuit about that from a civil rights perspective. And then as we were getting on the air, you and I talked about a new lawsuit that's been filed against Colorado by a big Trump donor, geo group out of Florida. And for those that don't know, that's a private prison entity that runs places like Delaney Hall in New Jersey and has a lot of human rights violations as alleged within those walls. And I guess they're suing because Phil and the state have pissed them off by trying to regulate them. and making sure that human beings aren't mistreated. Phil, thanks for being on with our audience. Thank you again for the time. Yeah. We want to start with the hiring.

I want to say this has been one of the more bittersweet experiences of my life because, as you know, we're hiring talent that before this administration, we couldn't hire. I've known extremely competent, high-quality professional lawyers at the Justice Department in other law offices in the federal government. And they would say to me, the pay scale that the feds offer just is not one we can compete with. And they say, we have a great situation here. We're not going to leave.

And that was the word that I heard again and again during my entire time as Attorney General until January 2025. When lawyers started saying to me, Phil, I can't stay. My professional ethical standards are at risk. The work I'm being asked to do I don't believe in. I want to be in public service, but I can't be a part of this Justice Department. We've hired over 22 people in county from the federal government who want to stay in public service but can't be a part of an administration that is so lawless and that is undermining the values we hold dear. And I am at one level.

I'm excited that I've gotten these tremendous lawyers working on everything from civil rights to water, to consumer protection, to employment. I'm also heartbroken. I worked at the Department Justice under two presidents when I knew that department to set the highest standards of professionalism integrity. And I'm watching the corrupting of this Justice Department, the undermining of basic professionalism. And I'm worried about the rebuilding that's going to happen on the other end. it's not sustainable to hollow out the Justice Department and other key offices where lawyers once were doing the work professionally at a high quality. Now, the work's not even happening or it's not happening at the quality level it should be, and professionalism has gone out the window. Yeah, you're approaching a thousand cases against the Trump administration

by various entities, including the 24 Democratic attorneys general. And that's not including the habeas corpus cases, which is another several thousand, and we're only 20, 21 months into this administration. And you have, it's not like they're replacing your talent. Your talent gain, it's not being replaced by like MAGA counterparts, you know, that want to work for this Department of Justice. Nobody wants to work for this Department of Justice. It's only export, no import. And eventually, as you say, the brain drain, which is so disheartening to people, like you and me that believe in democracy and the rule of law. And even though I've always been on the opposite side, I've never been a prosecutor. I've always been a defense attorney. But, you know, there's some

valor, there's a lot of by the frenemy of having your colleague on your counterpart on the other side of the United States of America be somebody who could be trusted, you could negotiate with. And you could agree to disagree. And you may have to take that to court or otherwise, but you never had to worry about them being corrupt or corrupted or that they wouldn't follow the Department of Justice manual, which is now, they must have shredded all the manuals because nobody is following it, certainly not at the main justice or at the leadership level. And I'm so glad these people said, look, I can't, I can't enable the, there's one thing about staying. At the beginning, we were like, stay in and fight back and resist. But you can't when you're being asked to do

unlawful, unethical things on a daily basis. I mean, just, right? You can't stay. You're so right. And there was a assistant U.S. attorney in New York, whose name is escaping me for a minute, you may remember, who was told basically to let Eric Adams go off of a criminal prosecution for a political deal that was, again, the definition of the corrupting of the justice bar. When you cut political deals that aren't based on the rule of law, that's what corrupting of the Justice Department is. You're not operating under equal justice of law. One system for those who are politically connected, another system for people they don't like. That is offensive to the integrity that I knew the Justice Department to always stand for. And what this person said, I think his last name was

Scotton, that Trump might find someone to do his bidding, but it was either going to be a fool or a coward, and he said it was never going to be me. So the people like Mr. Scotton, who had integrity, like you said, they're leaving. They're often not being replaced, and you're just seeing the work spread out. And so I think there's now a famous case. Wasn't there another assistant attorney general at the Justice Barron who said to a judge, please put me contempt so I can get some sleep? Yeah, there was a, she'd come over from ICE.

She was in Minnesota. And she told the judge, just find me in contempt. This is an impossible job. She eventually got fired or left that. And I heard she's running, she's running for some office. from that. But Daniel says soon in that same Southern District of New York office when she quit, and she was a shining star. She was, by the way, Republican, an Orthodox Jewish woman that was destined to be the U.S. attorney in that office. Everybody that knew her, saw her as a shining star.

She left. She said, dismissed the indictment, as she was ordered to do by Emil Bovi, dismiss the indictment. I'm ready to come to get permission to bring a superseding indictment for more charges. And then, then, then, quit with an eight-page letter, which detailed everything. And that we knew we were in trouble. That was right at the beginning of the administration, even before Pambandi was confirmed. This was being run by Emil Bovi and others,

and Todd Blanche, who was running around in there at the time. Hopefully, we'll all come up in his confirmation hearing. Your group that you were able to hire, are they coming from civil and criminal and appellate? Are they just Colorado feds? Like, where were they? Everything. We're hiring people from Maine Justice and we're hiring from Washington agencies, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, who basically have concluded, I can't do this anymore. I'm leaving. And they look to Colorado. There are people in, we've got a lot of federal workers in Colorado,

a lot of lawyers out here who have concluded, we can't be a part of this anymore. And obviously, the doge nonsense is part of this too. And so you've seen a range of hollowing out of opting out leading to this influx of talent opportunity for me and harm to the federal government. I do want to pick up your point about people quitting. It is so important for all lawyers who are listening to recognize the following point. You have to be willing to walk away. What Danny also soon did, for example, you talked about. That's what every lawyer needs to be prepared to do.

Because if you're not willing to do what these lawyers are doing, then you're basically saying no matter what unethical, unprofessional, work I'm asked to do, I'll do it. And every lawyer needs to know your integrity is the most important quality you have. You have to be willing to walk away. On the other side of this, Michael, we have to restore that integrity of professionalism to the DOJ. It's being held out right now. I am witnessing it. And as you noted, yes, ROS is benefiting from it. But I'll tell you, it's really better for me that we're getting stronger as an office knowing that the federal government's getting weaker. And you're expanding to meet the moment, right? I'm sure your office

from when you ran and won, and now you're running for, you're running for the governorship, right? Yeah, one of the things that's worth noting is my ability to build a great team, like we've done here, and do way more than people imagine was possible. It's absolutely something that I see I can do as governor as well. The creative leadership that I've been able to bring, this type of people I've been attracting, it is a credit to our office. And when I was running, just like you said, Michael, people wouldn't have said Colorado's going to lead the case against Meta nationwide. We led the case against Google. We're a core part of the team breaking up Live Nation Ticketmaster, taking on the next star Tegna merger, 66 cases and counting against

the Drum Administration. We're doing all this work. We're punching way above our weight class. That's because of the great team we've been able to build. Absolutely. And so let's turn to one of the cases to show this in action. You file in Maryland, which is a great place to be. I'm not sure what judge you have there. But good federal court, you got the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. And this is an issue, which is kind of near and dear to my heart, because I know a lot of people that participate and have historically participated in like state minority business enterprise, MBE programs, which have, and set asides to allow minorities to get jobs and contracts and vendors and other things that they normally would be blocked by the big giants who don't care generally about diversity, equity, inclusion, especially now in the Trump administration. He's made it a four-letter word. Corporations have run tail, right? Used to be, we have a whole office to vote into it.

And it's like, oh, crap, Stephen Miller's on the line. Oh, we don't have that office anymore. So there's a lot of cowardice going on at the corporate level. But, you know, even now I went on, Phil, before you, when I got together, I was like, even the SBA, small business administration still promotes minority businesses for now. Maybe I shouldn't flag it for the Trump administration. But talk about in federal contracting why it's important for diversity, equity, inclusion, and minority participation, and what your lawsuits trying to do about it. Michael, Lyndon Baines-Johnson, in the wake of our civil rights era, made commitments for the federal government, for the agencies to contract in a way that promoted diversity, equity, and inclusion.

There was a recognition that for years the federal government had discriminated in contracting had undermined equal opportunity. And since Johnson, and this has been a continued straight line through Reagan, through Trump won, there was an awareness that advancing true equal opportunity, giving people who did come from underrepresented groups, a chance to get contracts, a chance for contractors to be engaging in inclusion efforts. That was all viewed as advancing civil rights. This administration has made a deliberate decision to undermine civil rights,

to use every tool they can, like you said, to say that diversity, equity, inclusion is a four-letter word and needs to be stopped. I am offended, appalled. This is, to me, undercutting our nation's promise. And we're coming up on Juneteenth really soon. The idea here is that we want equality across the board. We want inclusion across the board. We want to address inequities. All of the requirements, all the expectations that were historically.

Now, since Johnson, part of what it meant to be a federal contractor that you had to take this work seriously, that's going out the window on a dime with no consideration, with no justification, justification, just because this administration has some type of vendetta and doesn't believe in equal opportunity. We're fighting back in court. Absolutely. Absolutely. And as you said, this is, what number cases this for Colorado against the Trump administration? It's number 66 and counting. Every time they break the law and harm Coloradans, we're going to get on the case. And we're winning again and again. We're now in the upper 30s of cases that we're already getting a winning result in. Just got one the other day in wins. And it is sad that this administration, you know, part of the point you pointed earlier about, losing lawyers. In the birthright citizenship case, it went for a judge, I believe it was in Oregon,

and the federal judge said to the DOJ lawyer, when you guys took this action disregarding the Constitution, the judge said, where were the lawyers? And that's something I ask a lot, this administration. They appear to do things that are lawless. They either don't know it's against the law or they don't care. But either way, the courts are holding the line, holding the rule of law, and holding this lawless administration to account. I think that's, I think I was the Seattle Washington senior status judge. The only reason I know that as when we were on a panel together, I, I couldn't remember the state and your colleague at the state of Washington said it was, and I always mispronounce,

I know how to spell it. I just don't know how to pronounce the guy's name. But yeah, that was one of the, that was the first ruling, right, on birthright citizenship. And you and I and the rest of the nation are waiting patiently on pins and needles for what's going to happen either this Thursday or next Thursday for the United States Supreme Court on birthright citizenship and taking away, I don't know, you want to do a little handicapping on that one? Yeah, I really think this one is like the terrorist case. We are going to be victorious.

I have a very hard time believing this Supreme Court is going to be ignoring the basic text of the 14th Amendment if you're born here a citizen. There is this clause under the jurisdiction thereof, but that means do you have the authority to prosecute someone criminally, which you don't have, for example, if they have diplomatic immunity, or if you're engaging in a war when you're under the Jeeva Convention. So I don't see how they literally read out this promise of birthright citizenship of the 14th Amendment. And I sometimes say, 7-2 is the new 9-0, because I do think Scalia and Alito, they may well side with President Trump. But the other seven, I believe, are all getable here, and it will be a surprise to me if we lose this case.

I acknowledge, I've been surprised by this court before. You can't take anything you're granted, but I do like where we are on this argument and do see that the Constitution's protection for birthright citizenship, I believe, will be vindicated soon. Yeah, I totally agree with you, and I'm glad that we were able to touch on that. Let's also touch on something that matters to our audience, which is how other human beings are treated in detention. and particularly this penchant for the Trump administration to house other human beings in storage units. It's like, you see, it's like, right, storage units for human beings. And by that, I mean, that shouldn't be happening.

And private, the amount of sheer money and profit that is being made by private prison companies, like the GEO group out of Florida, very close to Trump, donated millions of dollars to Trump, for various things, whatever he asked for he gets, they stroke a check. And lo and behold, we suddenly need lots of detention centers around America and companies like Gio getting a signing fifth, like for instance, Delaney Hall, which has been in all the news in New Jersey with Governor Mikey Cheryl out there and other elected officials protesting,

they signed a 15-year, multi-billion dollar contract to run Delaney Hall. And there's tremendous civil liberties and civil rights abuses inside of there. People not getting medical treatment, people not being fed properly, not being not being given medical treatment or care, hygiene, basic hygiene. And Colorado did something about it. And then Gio decided they were going to do something about that. But catch us all up on your fight against the private prison operators like the Gio group. Michael, your background was spot on.

the ICE budget has grown and grown and grown. The authority of ICE has grown and grown. Congress has failed to do its job of checking on a lawless, heartless administration and the mean-spiritedness that we're seeing and the harm that's coming from this administration's efforts to hurt immigrant communities pains me deeply. I'm a first-generation American child or grandchild of refugees. The fair, the legal treatment of immigrants means a lot to me. And in Colorado, we care about. about every human being, which is why our public health authority is available to oversee the geo group to make sure, as you put it, atrocities don't happen. People are not inhumanely treated. And that's something that whatever the facility is by a private company, we are going

to inspect. We are going to protect people. The geo group is going to make an argument that because they're a federal contractor, they want to be immune from state public health oversight. And our position is you're not immune. You're subject to state law. The state has the authority and the obligation to protect people. We are going to be fighting back in court. We're going to be standing up for our sovereignty. And what a lot of people in this moment need to know, and it's true about immigration, it's true about voting, true about climate issues. It's true about diversity we're talking about before, states have our own sovereignty. The federal government can't overtake our sovereign authority. They can't dictate to us. We have an ability to be islands of coherence in what is a sea of chaos right

now. And by doing that, we can help our nation get back to a better place when Congress finally starts doing its job and checking this lawless president. Absolutely. And so let's let's end our, thank you for that. Let's end our time together, as we always do, where you look the audience in the eye and tell them, now that we've gone through all of the things that are, you're working hard to protect democracy and the rule of law, what they can do. What, what, like, because they get the information, right, Phil?

And then they, they, it's great. They get to use it in the public square, you know, the public marketplace of ideas around their kitchen table and social media on the street and family gatherings. You know, they get good talking. points. They understand things because we don't blow smoker sunshine. We tell the truth here and honest commentary on legal AF and with our guests like you. But then they want to know, what do I do with this information besides just voting myself? What else can I do? I want to give you three ways that it's

really important for all of you as engaged citizens to stand up for the republic and the values on which this nation stands. These are core values that we've been talking about, just equality, freedom, human dignity, how we make sure that people operate with integrity under the rule of law. We can fight for these values together. This year, we're going to have critical elections. There are going to be a number of people on the ballot. As you said, I'm running for governor, philfer, Colorado.com is where people find me. Whatever people you believe in, whoever you might adopt as someone who you see as a fighter for

these values, I often say this, our democracy is a team sport, get engaged. Number two, it's really important that you are working with organizations. In Colorado, we have organizations around, for example, the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition or the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network. I've seen the type of neighborhooding standing up for our immigrant neighbors in Colorado. We saw this in Minneapolis. It is heartwarming to me. Then the face of the mean-spirited, lawless actions, people are responding as neighbors.

And so get involved with organizations that, that stand for the values you believe in, diversity, protecting immigrants, addressing the challenges of climate, whatever issues you believe in, there are organizations you can get involved in. And third, recognize that you're in community with other people. And rather than doomstrol, talk to your friends, organize, get engaged, make sure they're thinking about their engagement. A lot of times people can just get lonely, disconnected, frustrated. Don't do that. The more you engage with people, the more you're organized, the more you're joining, the better our nation gets.

The biggest threat to our future is that people don't lean at this moment. People don't get engaged. So be a part of this work, engage within your community, fighting for believing a better future. That's how I grew up as a child and grandchild of Holocaust survivors who came to this country, believe in our values. That's how I'm going to keep being. Thank you, Michael, for your time. Thank you all for your engagement. Absolutely. What's that old line, A.G. Wiser, you can't, if your hands are doing something productive, they can't be, what's the phrase? It's Pat Schroeder. It's the former congresswoman from Denver. If you're rolling up your sleeves, it can't be ringing your hands. That's it. Perfect. Everybody, roll up your sleeves. Don't ring your hands. That's Pat Schroeder. She was an icon, former congresswoman, her memory lives on as a blessing.

Right. See that? Not only did I butcher it, but I butcher it about somebody that's near and dear to you and your state. She really is. That's great. And Attorney General Phil Wisder, if you want to know how to help Phil follow his official website related to the Attorney General. He's also running for governor there. That's I think it's an open seat, right? That's that right, because the sitting governor is a term limited out. So Phil for governor, we'll put that link in in the notes below. And you'll keep us hopefully apprised about what's happening in your geo lawsuit and this suit. And when you get, like you said, I am sure you're not going to stop at six. What is it? 60 what?

66 in county. 66. I'm sure the next time I see you, it'll be over 70. Attorney General Phil Weiser from the great state of Colorado. Thanks for being on Legal A.F. And if you want to help Legal A.F., it's easy. Become a free subscriber by hitting the button below as we continue to grow our pro-democracy channel. So my next report, I'm Michael Popak.

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Washington doing more to stop Trump. I know. Have you heard about Phil Weiser in Colorado, though? No. Is he different? Yeah. A.G. Weiser sued the Trump administration 65 times. He's beating Trump in court again and again. Things like protecting Obamacare against Trump's illegal tariffs, and he even won against Ticketmaster. So he actually gets results. Exactly. As governor, Phil will fight for Colorado. Paid for it by Phil Weiser for Colorado registered agent in Nand in Moskazi.