Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Criminal Trump Makes Pro-Crime Order to Hurt FBI

Episode Date: February 12, 2025

Trump — in a move that signals that Trump’s America is now pro bribery and extortion, and anti-ethics and whistleblowers, Trump just suspended enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (and is companion Foreign Extortion Prevention Act” because he says not allowing American businesses to bribe their way to new business is unAmerican, while at the same time dismissing the heads of Government offices for Ethics and Whistleblowing to prevent corruption. Save your smile and your bank account with Remi! Get up to 50% off your custom-fit mouth guard at https://ShopRemi.com/LEGALAF today! 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

Get groceries delivered across the GTA from real Canadian Superstore with PC Express. Shop online for super prices and super savings. Try it today and get up to $75 in PC Optimum Points. Visit superstore.ca to get started. The housing crisis in the GTA has reached a critical point with more than two and three residents being affected. Reporting that almost 9 million Canadians are living in food insecure households. Over 1 million people in the GTA

now live below the poverty line. We're just out today. Mental health support is the number one reason people are calling 211 first. At United Way, we wake up to a different alarm every day. Help us end poverty and build a better GTA any way we can. Donate today at unitedwaygt.org. Well if you're against ethics in government and you're against whistleblowing, but you're

in favor of extortion and bribery, you're going to love what Donald Trump just did in his suspension of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. It's been on the books since 1978. It also has a companion law called the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act. And according to Donald Trump, it puts America and business at a competitive disadvantage because they're not allowed to bribe enough or extort enough. This is not the onion, everybody. This is Midas Touch.

I'm Michael Popak in Legal AF. Let's dive in. I've dealt with Foreign Corrupt Practices Act representing clients who have been accused of it. I've also been involved with advising companies on how to avoid violating the Federal Corrupt Practices Act. It's no joke and it's there for a good reason. We don't want our American companies bribing their way to the top or in other countries.

As a Donald Trump, it's just deal making by another name. It just shows you the perversity and the lack of ethics and morals and character of the Trump administration. The same week that he suspends the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, as business people that are now in his administration are whispering to him that they'd like to continue with their companies, apparently, to bribe around the world.

I can only think of one in particular, Elon Musk, but there are others. He says, let's get rid of that. What puts America at a competitive disadvantage? They're not allowed to bribe enough. That's really where we're at right now with this. So what does it mean? He's authorized or he's instructed through an executive order, what else? Pam Bondi, his attorney general, to come up with new guidelines for how to enforce the

FCPA and the FEPA on the books. Now currently, there are about 25 different companies that are being prosecuted or investigated under these acts. I expect those to end as well. I mean, Donald Trump all within about a 48-hour period dismissed the charge, had instructed that the bribery charges. This is like pro-bribery week for Donald Trump. You know when they have like infrastructure week and all? I'm in favor of bribery week. He has his US attorney in Manhattan, Jay Clayton, who used to work for him in the Securities and Exchange Commission, an old golf buddy of his.

He has him dismiss the charges against Mayor Adams in the city of New York, who was caught in a alleged bribery scandal involving the Turkish government. Get rid of that. Then, and then he pardons Rudy Blagojevich, sorry Blagojevich, who is the former Illinois governor who was caught bribing his way to try to get or sell off the Senate seat that was being vacated by Obama before he became president. He gets rid of the director of the Office of Special Counsel. He gets rid of the head of the watchdog group

that's responsible for whistleblowing, the Office of Government Ethics. Get rid of all that. We don't need ethics in government, according to Donald Trump. We don't need watchdogs. We don't need, we're pro-bribery. This is the message. This is the new repackaging or rebranding or reskidding of the American

brand of democracy. Pro, we're pro-bribery and extortion, everybody. I mean, it's remarkable that I have to do a hot tick like this, but I do. What are the ramifications of it? All these suspensions of all of these programs like federal funding and a new order preventing people who are transgender from entering the military, you know, they're not suspensions. These are permanent changes in our American brand of not only diplomacy but patriotism and the rest.

We want to, I wanted to wake, do you think I wanted to wake up in a country or in a hotel room? Did you think I wanted to wake up in a country where we've now signaled to the rest of the world as the leader of the free world, that it's okay to bribe? You know how much bribery goes on in other countries? Millions of Americans grind or clench their teeth at night and most don't even know they're doing it.

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Oh, this lets him off the hook. Oh, that lets him off the hook. I'm like, that's what our foreign powers, our foreign allies are writing about. They're almost like popping champagne. I mean, this is oligarchs popping champagne quirks. Remember, just a couple of days ago, we got rid of the anti-oligarchs popping champagne quirks remember just just a couple of days ago, we got rid of the

The anti oligarch Statute that went after Russian oligarchs and took all of their yachts and planes and property You know as a punishment to Russia This is a great week for oligarchs and people who? participate in bribery and extortion and a terrible week for for oligarchs and people who participate in bribery and extortion. And a terrible week for our moderate people or progressive people, fair-minded people,

that believe that's not what America should stand for. So we'll continue to follow all of it. What can we do about it? Not much at the present time. It lets off the hook all the companies that are currently being investigated. It just signals, I mean, if I'm inside of a company right now in America, I throw out that entire chapter

in the corporate handbook and in the corporate training about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and I just say, yeah, even though we're changing our internal ethics of our company and because the president says so, we're back to bribing again, like before 1978. So everybody have them. If I'm the CEO, I'm like, everybody have on my desk, Monday morning, all the places where we can improve our business dealings if we just bribed more. And let them explain that, by the way, to the shareholders, that there's now going to be apparently a section in the accounting records,

in the financial reporting of a company that lists bribes. What are you going to put, legal expenses? We're just going to be gangster about it? We're just going to say it out loud? We're bribing people. We spent $100 million last year bribing ex-official in Africa in order to get control of the oil fields. I mean, this administration can't end soon enough

for most people. I have friends that are Republican, I know it's hard to believe. And they told me over dinner last night that they're really happy about the, I mean as much as we're not, they're really happy about the first two weeks. And then when you really start picking away at it, well, what are you happy about?

Oh, well, he's back to being erratic and he doesn't care. He's a bomb thrower. I'm like, how does that help us? Are you okay with getting rid of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act? Oh, I haven't read enough about that. Are you okay with... They ignore all the things that don't fit their narrative. What about the Jan 6th part? Well, I don't want to talk about that don't fit their narrative? What about the Jan six part?

Well, I don't want to talk about that right now. I want to talk about that. I want to do it here on legal AF of the Midas Touch Network. I'll continue to follow Apparently what we're watching is the corruption I'd say the corruption of the Trump administration, but I think it came in corrupt So I think we're just following it and continuing to do that and we we got to speak truth to each other, and then we can speak truth to power. So we're doing that here on Midas Touch and Legal AF. Take a minute, come on over to Legal AF, the YouTube channel. While I'm on the road, I'm trying to keep up with all the hot takes and videos there.

Help me out too. Hit the blue subscribe button or the subscribe button, help us continue to grow that pro-democracy channel. To my next hot take from somewhere else in America, Michael Popak. In collaboration with the Midas Touch Network, we just launched the Legal AF YouTube channel. Help us build this pro-democracy channel where I'll be curating the top stories, the intersection of law and politics.

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