Legal AF by MeidasTouch - DOJ Makes UNEXPECTED MOVE on Trump Criminal Case

Episode Date: November 30, 2024

Popok answers the question on everyone’s mind: why is the DOJ and Jack Smith keeping the Mar a Lago appeal alive against Trump’s co conspirators knowing that will just be pardoned and the appeal immediately dismissed when Trump takes office? Are there greater justice principles in play that require that Smith not back down despite Trump threats? Lomi: Visit https://Lomi.com/LEGALAF and use code LEGALAF and checkout to save $50! 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

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We're finding it all here at Humber River Health. Help us innovate to keep healthcare alive. Donate at healthcarelives.ca. Jack Smith may be going out of business, but he's got some last ditch efforts to try to fix some really terrible precedent that his office set as a byproduct of going after Donald Trump. particularly the decision by Judge Eileen Cannon to find that the special counsel is improperly appointed under the Constitution, was improperly confirmed by the Senate, and was improperly funded. That is the highest law

of the land right now, and that Jack Smith, in a last gasp effort to fix it, is trying to maintain the appeal even if it's not against Donald Trump in order to change that bad law. I'm Michael Popak. This is Midas Touch Network and Legal AF. I didn't think enough attention was given to the Mar-a-Lago case and the tactics and strategy being employed by Jack Smith in the remaining 50 or 60 days, which may all be for naught, but they believe it's important. I thought that didn't get enough attention because it kind of got lost in the sauce in the almost simultaneous filing of

a motion to dismiss that was granted of the D.C. election interference case against Donald Trump. But let me return to Mar-a-Lago and the terrible precedent that was set. Let's face facts. There's two terrible pieces of law that came out of the Trump era. One of them is Jack Smith's responsibility. The first one is we have a new law in the books by the Supreme Court that states can't declare a federal candidate, a candidate for federal officer, to be an insurrectionist and bar or ban him from the ballot. That's the Colorado case, the 14th Amendment case, that happened in the spring. I don't lay that at the feet of Jack Smith. I'm just saying what happened in the last few months. The one that's terrible for Jack Smith is that, or two, is he

got two terrible rulings, one from the United States Supreme Court in the DC election interference case and one in the Mar-a-Lago case by the trial court judge. In the immunity case, he pushed and pushed and pushed and finally the United States Supreme Court made a ruling that's going to make it almost impossible to rein in the criminal proclivity of a future president even if it's not named Donald Trump. And if it is Donald Trump, certainly they won't be able to rein him in because they've lost a major tool in their toolbox because the United States Supreme Court ruled that almost under every circumstance we can think of, as long as the person occupying the president's office is exercising his official conduct or his official power stretched to its outer boundaries or it's listed in the Constitution and he commits a crime

related to it, he's not going to jail and he can't be prosecuted. Only for the most private of conduct, which have no real connective tissue to the presidential powers, could they possibly go to jail and be prosecuted. Terrible decision, makes it very difficult for future departments of justice to rein in a criminal president, even one who's murderous. Second bad decision that came out as a byproduct of the prosecution is the Mar-a-Lago. There's no other way to put it.

Even though Eileen Kenner was the only person in 250 years of federal jurisprudence to declare that a special counsel, special prosecutor, independent counsel, whatever you're gonna call it, is improperly appointed unless it goes through Senate confirmation, which Jack Smith didn't, of course. It went through the appropriate, what the code requires for the establishment of a special counsel.

And she also found that it was improperly funded. And for the first time in 250 years, she killed the special counsel's office, found it improper, and dismissed the indictment that they obtained. That is the law of the land right now because the Supreme Court hasn't ruled, no other trial court has ruled, and it hasn't gone up to any of the other circuits. That has to come off the books. The problem is this. I get why they dismissed the case against Donald Trump in the Mar-a-Lago prosecution because their office of legal counsel told them they had to, constitutionally. I get that.

I also understand in my heart why they wanted to keep the case alive against Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira, the butler and the IT worker. They wanted to keep it alive at the appeal to the 11th Circuit because they want to try to reverse that terrible decision. But let's be frank, they only have 60 days. That means the 11th Circuit would have to rule on an emergency basis, set a briefing schedule, have it heard, and make their ruling, and then you know it's going to the United States Supreme Court, whoever loses. That's never going to get done. I'm going to manage expectations now. That's never getting done before Jan 20. It's just not. Um, but they want to keep it alive.

By the time Jan 20 rolls around, Jack Smith will be long gone because he's already announced he's got to get out of town. He's got his, he's finishing his final reports against Donald Trump about the case Mar-a-Lago and DC election interference case to deliver it to his boss Merrick Arlen, who hopefully after an immediate review, will release it to the public before Jan 3's new Congress comes in and drives him crazy, or Jan 20 at the latest. And so we got that going on.

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with the press of a button with Lomi. Use the code LegalAF to save $50 at Lomi.com slash LegalAF. So Jack Smith's going to be long gone. He's leaving that office well before Christmas. Okay. And if he's smart, go into witness protection or somebody will put him overseas at The Hague or something where he came from. Somebody will put him overseas at the Hague or something where he came from. That's on the Jack Smith side. The next thing that's going to happen is some acting attorney general ordered by the president who's going to be Donald Trump one day, who's still in the office, is going to show up in the 11th Circuit and dismiss that appeal, the appeal that Jack Smith just took.

There's no doubt in my mind that we will not leave the month of January with that appeal still intact. And as to Carlos de Olvera and Walt Nauta, Donald Trump's going to give them pardons, like on day one. So some people might be wondering, you can list it in the comments and I'll respond to you, why are we doing this? Why are we wasting resources? We know where this ends.

We've seen the end of the movie. Pardon's for everybody, okay? Department of Justice dismisses the indictment or the appeal of the 11th Circuit, and that's the end of it. And that ruling, which they like, stays on the books. The question is, do they really like that ruling from the Trump side? Because there's a rumor they want to appoint their own special counsel and they don't want to do it through Senate confirmation.

You know, be careful what you ask for. The rumor was maybe it was just a trolling rumor or a middle finger, a middle finger troll, which was Matt Gates was going to be special counsel to go after everybody in the Department of Justice. But in any event, does Donald Trump really want to give up a tool of his to appoint special counsels? I mean, everybody's appointed special counsels in the presidency. And he wants to say now that it doesn't have to go through, it has to go through Senate

confirmation and it has to go through Senate confirmation and it has to be funded especially by Congress when he knows he can't get that done. I'm not so sure about that. And I think Jack Smith is saying, you know what, if he's going to do that, let Donald Trump take a position and flip-flop on the issue of the special counsel and about funding, right? And if he's going to pardon the two guys, it'll be after we issue our reports, everybody knows what crimes they committed.

I think right now it's just about damage control at the Department of Justice and about holding their head up high and about having confidence and about having a profile and courage because there's no doubt in my mind that some version of Donald Trump or his minions and trolls are going to go after Jack Smith and the rest and fire them if they remain, especially the career Department of Justice prosecutors and the people in the FBI So I'm trying to answer the question. Why people are like why Pope? Why why are they still going after the other two guys? We know the pardon is coming I think they have to they have to do everything they can maybe they can get an expedite briefing schedule

They haven't asked for it at the 11th circuit. Maybe they can get a fast ruling which I doubt So I think it's gonna come down to this the. The appeals going to be there. Donald Trump's going to roll into town. He's going to tell some flunky to go dismiss the appeal. He's going to pardon the other two guys, and then we're going to have to jump up and down at the midterms and talk about the criminality of Donald Trump and how he helped his friends out with a pardon and ordered the dismissal of his own case. I think they just want the optics of that happening and that may be worth it at this point. I guess it's better than just you know pulling up stakes and taking your ball and going home.

You know, you got to do something about it. So we'll continue to follow what happens next in the 11th Circuit Appeal. If there's a faster briefing schedule I'll come back here on Legal AF and Midas Touch and tell you about it. So we'll continue to follow what happens next in the 11th Circuit Appeal. If there's a faster briefing schedule, I'll come back here on Legal AF and Midas Touch and tell you about it, and we'll follow it. If you like this kind of analysis at the intersection of law and politics, we don't blow smoke or sunshine as you can tell. Join us Wednesdays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Eastern time for our podcast Legal AF and all things Legal AF that I curate on our own channel, Legal AF, the YouTube channel, which you can find in collaboration with the Midas Touch Network.

So until my next Legal AF contribution, I'm Michael Popak and I am reporting. 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. of the world.