Legal AF by MeidasTouch - DOJ Sentencing Demands FORESHADOW DOOM for Trump

Episode Date: August 21, 2023

Michael Popok of Legal AF reports on why DOJ fears the Proud Boys even more than the other right wing soldiers for Trump the Oath Keepers and why they are seeking sentences almost double in length. Thanks to our sponsor Moink! Sign up at MoinkBox.com/LEGALAF and get FREE ground beef for a YEAR! Remember to subscribe to ALL the Meidas Media Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://pod.link/1510240831 Legal AF: https://pod.link/1580828595 The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://pod.link/1595408601 The Influence Continuum: https://pod.link/1603773245 Kremlin File: https://pod.link/1575837599 Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://pod.link/1530639447 The Weekend Show: https://pod.link/1612691018 The Tony Michaels Podcast: https://pod.link/1561049560 American Psyop: https://pod.link/1652143101 Burn the Boats: https://pod.link/1485464343 Majority 54: https://pod.link/1309354521 Political Beatdown: https://pod.link/1669634407 Lights On with Jessica Denson: https://pod.link/1676844320 MAGA Uncovered: https://pod.link/1690214260 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Michael Popok, legal AF. You want to know why the Department of Justice is trying to put the proud boys leadership convicted of seditious conspiracy away for over 33 years in some instances. And why that's so much greater than even they sought for the oath keepers is because if you put the proud boys in the oath keepers in a dark alley, the oath keepers would be scared of the proud boys, right? Right wing extremist paramilitary organizations as the army of Trump are all not created equal. Proud boys are worse than oath keepers. They all should go away for a very long time breaking big rocks in the small rocks, but the proud boys are worse. And I'm going to tell you why and why the government, the Department of Justice in their sentencing memo just filed is seeking

over 30 years for a number of the leadership. It is the proud boys that are responsible for every bad thing that happened on Jan 6th at the cradle of democracy at our Congress, everything. They were the first ones in. They led a paramilitary organization that lined up at 10 a.m. at the Washington monument of all places, marched to the Capitol in wedge formation, led people there that they picked up the other people there that were that were soldiers for them, but they were the leaders. They were the first ones to start the fight at the West Terrace. They were the and the portico battling it out hand

to hand combat with police who were outmatched. They used weapons, they used bear spray, they used pepper spray, they used shields. They broke in the first ones to break the line and enter the Senate, enter the Senate, breaking windows using police shields at battering rams and all of those things. Proud boys are so bad that the Department of Justice has calculated based on the way the sentencing guidelines run, where you start with a base offense level for seditious conspiracy at the highest level, gives you 32 points on that scale. Then you add a couple of points for terrorism enhancement because they're terrorists, and then you give them four points for leadership because they were the leaders of the proud boys. And then you give them criminal history enhancement.

And you end up at a range of sentences for bigs and Tariya at almost 33 years, Zach Rell, 30 years in Ethan, Norden, 27 years to put this in perspective. The leader, the one-eyed patch wearing leader of the Oathkeepers also convicted of seditious conspiracy went to jail for, it was sentenced for 18 years, Stewart Rhodes. They're looking for 33 years for these guys. That's how bad these guys are. And it's the reason all four of them has been sitting as part of the DC jail choir that Trump likes to laud because they're really bad people. And that's why they've had a sit and pretrial detention, some of them for over two years. I'm going to talk about the actual comments in the sentencing memo because it is a powerful

recitation of how the Department of Justice under Merrick Garland sees the prosecution of these people and the stain that they have left indelibly on democracy and on our constitution, which yes, held, but not without a cost to paraphrase the Department of Justice. These are the guys, the proud boys, big Tariot, Raul and Norton that wrote about their 1776 moment. And Riki Tariot, who wasn't present actually on the day of Gen 6, but then all the planning and did all the walkie talkie and using encrypted message platforms in order to encourage his people to do things. He took full credit afterwards on social media for the riot, the insurrection, the carnage, the bloodshed, the five people who died.

He took full credit for that. He thought it was something he should take credit for. That was Proud Boy work. That was the ministry of, I forget what they call it, it's some idiotic phrase that they use for their paramilitary organization. This is the group to remind everybody as we enter a new debate season involving potentially Donald Trump

that he said when he said he didn't know who they were during the debate with Hillary Clinton. He then told the proud boys to stand back and stand by. Well, now it's stand back, stand by and stand in prison for the next 30 years plus if the department of justice has its way. And so they, them and the leaders of the, now I got a ministry of self-defense that fired

their way in there. And Raco Tariot, the only reason he wasn't there is because two days earlier, he tore down and burned in front of a black church, a black lives banner, black lives matter, batter, and he was arrested and tipped off by a local cop not to be a present on Jan 6th. That's the only reason he wasn't there. But he was leading, he was exhorting, he was commanding from his other post.

Now, the sentencing here is going to be handled by a Trump appointed judge, a Trump appointed judge, but it's one that's as of so far has a not been that lenient with the Jan 6th defendants before him. I mean, he's dismissed the couple of smaller cases, some trespass cases, but when it comes to serious matters like seditious conspiracy for which he sat as a jury convicted them, he's denied motions to overturn the indictment and attacks on the Department of Justice. And so we fully expect that in sentencing he's going to come pretty close that in sentencing, he's going to come pretty close to what the Department of Justice has to say. He's more of a bushy and than a Trumpian Republican this judge. He worked in the same unit that Jack

Smith did, not at the same time they didn't overlap in Department of Justice, the public corruption unit. So he understands that. And, you know, he worked under George Bush at one point when he worked in private practice. He worked for the Legal Aid Society. It's a defense lawyer. So I'm not that worried about who the judge is going to be. Now, let me read to you some of the most powerful elements of the sentencing memo filed by the Department of Justice. A quick tutorial memo filed by the Department of Justice. A quick tutorial after a conviction, there's a three or four month gap while the defense team gathers their sentencing memo and recommendation through the US probation department. They get letters of commendation and letters of reference and they try to argue for the low end of the scale and the department of justice puts together its information,

its calculus with a chart and then all the background and backup information per defendant so that the judge has it. And then the victims, all the police who were attacked, all the Capitol police that were outmatched, the ones that were beaten by the police, their own police shields by the proud boys sprayed with pepper spray, punched in the face. All of them, they are the victims, they get to testify as well, put an affidavits, and then this whole package gets put in front of the judge who then uses his discretion based on the sentence and guidelines to fashion a sentence that is commensurate with the crime and not just to punish them, but to ensure

that others don't emulate them. It's another purpose of criminal justice. And so let me read to you just some of the most powerful moments in this particular sentencing memo, which we'll also put up on the board. I like knowing exactly where my meat comes from. And with Moink, that place is from small family farms all across the board. I like knowing exactly where my meat comes from. And with Moink, that place is from small family farms all across the country. You can up-save the family farm and get access to the highest quality meat on earth when you join the Moink movement today.

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I do. And you will too. Keep American farming going by signing up at mointbox.com slash legal a f right now. And listers of this show get free ground beef for a year. That's one year of the best ground beef you'll ever taste, but for only a limited time. Spelled M-O-I-N-K box.com slash legal a f. That's mointbox.com slash legal a f. So this is how they describe the government, the evidence against the proud boys. And I'm quoting, having already ravaged the streets of Washington, DC with violence on two prior occasions in the fall of 2020, Tariots, Biggs, Nordine and Rell, hand selected

rally boys, including Dominic Pizzola, for their return on Jan 6, 2021. They established a chain of command in which the directives of leadership would be followed without question. They chose the time and the place for action, leading their men to a vulnerable entrance on the west front of the Capitol, when most other rally goers were focused on the then-president, Donald Trump's speech almost a mile away. They arrived shortly before 1 p.m. The appointed hour for the certification to begin.

These defendants and the men in their command saw themselves as the foot soldiers of the right. There we are. The foot soldiers of Donald Trump. They were prepared to use and they did use force to stop the traders from stealing the election. That means the people that were that were certifying for Joe Biden on May 4, 2023, 12 jurors found each defendant guilty due for their calculated efforts to oppose the lawful transfer of presidential

power. The defendants and the men they recruited and led participated in every consequential breach at the Capitol on Jan 6th. They began their assault that day at 10 a.m. When Nordine Biggs and Rell marched an assembled group of nearly 200 individuals away from the speeches at the ellipse and directly to the Capitol. They first arrived at the first street gate at 12.50 pm and Biggs led the crowd in chance of who's capital, our capital, and who's house, our house. Within three minutes, Nordine Biggs, Rell, and Pizzola helped lead the charge up the first

street walkway with their men throwing aside bike racks and laying waste to anything that stood in their path. As Biggs proudly declared, weir, weir, going through every barricade so far. The government later said that the defendant's leadership role was no accident. They viewed themselves as revolutionaries and they believed fully in their cause.

From the start of the riot, the defendants and their co-conspirators celebrated their achievement. And then they go on to describe how they did that in social media and how they patted themselves on the back for leading the riot. Nordine, for instance, recorded a video of himself describing an encounter with a woman at the bar in the video. He faulted the woman for not appreciating that he was part of an effing storming the capital of the most powerful country in the effing world, 1776 bitch.

That was his comment. In the victim section of the sentencing guidelines, they quote from Mike Pence about freedom at the capital and democracy and defending the Constitution. They then quote from Ronald Reagan, as follows, in his 1981 inaugural address, President Ronald Reagan remarked that the peaceful and orderly transfer of power called for by the Constitution is viewed by the rest of the world as nothing less than a miracle. These defendants and their followers attempted to subvert that two centuries old tradition. And while freedom, democracy and the Constitution prevailed on January 6th, it was not without costs. Alongside the enduring legacy of bravery and honor by those who defended our country, a harsh

reality has emerged. Political violence is not some foreign concept that exists only in faraway lands. It exists here too. The actions of these defendants threaten the bedrock principles of our country, democracy, and the rule of law. These defendants sought out and embraced their role as the purveyors of street violence to achieve their political objectives. They loudly and publicly declared themselves the face of the insurgency in the wake of the presidential election,

and they encourage others to follow them. I mean, this is some, and this goes on for 70 or 80 pages. This is how the Department of Justice is making its case to the American people. In sentencing memos like this one in closing it arguments and opening statements in the trials that they've tried. They haven't lost one jury trial yet in the Jan 6th and they've already been prosecuting up to 2,000 people. It is important as a counterweight as a background to the indictments of Donald Trump that people understand what happened on January 6th, who the leadership was taking their instructions from Donald Trump and others.

Even if you take Jack Smith at his word and his indictment, that he's not charging Donald Trump with actually causing the insurrection, but he's saying he was an opportunist who used the insurrection to his advantage in a commercial sense to cover for his continued cling to power, trying to buy more time in order to steal the election from Joe Biden. Anyway, he could lawsuits that were phony that failed fake electors that were phony and failed the attempt to throw it over to the state houses to let each state vote, which would have given the vote to Donald Trump, because there's more Republican states than Democratic states when you just do it by sheer number. And he just needed to buy more time. And when he saw a mob attacking the

Capitol, rather than think, this is a bad thing, I'm the commander in chief, and they're doing it in my name. I better call them off. He thought Donald Trump based on the indictment. How do I take advantage of these people who are eluding and attacking and in a conspiracy, so this is conspiracy fashion, attacking the bedrock of our democracy. How can I take advantage of that? One thing I'm going to do is I'm going to stay quiet for four hours and I'm not going to say a darn thing. And even when I get up hours and hours later after people had already been maimed, injured, psychologically traumatized, all the police, and people dead at the Capitol did this weak, feckless, I would even call them a leader, get up and make a statement

and one that did not do anything at all to quell the violence, which was out of control. We learned about that here in the sentencing memo. This is why the proud boys who were the generals in the foot soldiers for Donald Trump are going away for a long, long time, 33 years, 30 years, 20 years, all higher than what Stuart Rhodes and the Oathkeeper's got for a good reason for a reason that needs to be impressed on people. As they said in the sentencing memo, political violence has come to the shores of America. And if we're going to stop it, if we want

other Jan 6th, okay, then we, we lighten up and we give leniency on the sentencing. We let everybody walk out the front door. Okay, time served two years. You're great. But if we want to send a message, which our political justice system does, that this can't ever happen again, then the perpetrators of the violence have to be caught. They have to be indicted. They have to be tried. And if they're convicted, they have to be sentenced to the highest levels possible.

Let's hope that the judge who's going to be sentencing these people gets the message. He'll have the sentencing memo for the government. He'll have the sentencing memo for the government. He'll have the sentencing memo recommendations for from the defendants, each one of them. He'll hear from the victims. They'll probably be at least a dozen police, a capital police and DC police who and and staffers and elected officials, right? who will end up giving sworn testimony that this judge will have to consider. And the judge, Tim Kelly, listen, I know his background. I know where he came from, all right.

He was a Republican. He was a bush person. He's not a Trump person. And he's sided with the Department of Justice so far in cases like this one. I expect him to end up in sentences that have a two in a high number next to it or a three in a high number next to it and nothing less Frankly, nothing less is right for the American people. We're gonna follow sentencing about Jan 6th Defendants here on the Midas Touch Network. It's the only place you can get it. This

kind of straight talk. No sunshine blown, no smoke blown. Just the facts analysis that comes from being a practicing attorney in courtrooms, just like this one for the last 32 years. So passionate about these issues that I co-founded and co-anchor, the leading podcast at the intersection of law and politics, US style. It's called Legal AF. You can only get it one place, the Midas Touch YouTube channel and on their podcast platforms. That's it. It's a free subscribe both places.

Nothing I'm talking about here costs any money, only your support and your attention. And you can do it on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We have the podcast. We have it on YouTube format. We have it on audio format, again, on the Midas Touch Network. I do hot takes like this one about every day or twice a day, depending upon what's going on at that intersection of law and politics. You can catch me on hot takes also only on the Midas Touch Network,

slide over to playlists on that YouTube channel and you'll find my entire library of work over 350 hot takes so far and counting related to the issues we're talking about here. And that podcast we pull it all together and curate the best stories from the week that we think you should know in that arena. If you like what I'm doing on Michael Popock, you can follow me on all things social media at MS Popock, including now on Threads. Until the next hot take, this is Michael Popock, League of L.A.F.

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