Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Donald Trump INDICTED by Manhattan DA

Episode Date: March 31, 2023

Michael Popok of Legal AF reports on the breaking and historic news that Trump has been indicted by the Manhattan DA’s office for felonies involving hush money coverup payments to women including Stormy Daniels, with self surrender and arraignment coming soon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Michael Popok with legal AF with breaking news. Of course, the ultimate breaking news. If for the first time in our nation's history, a president has been indicted. And the indictment of Donald Trump could be as much as 34 separate felony counts. This is the front page of the New York Times. As we speak, Donald Trump finally indicted by the New York grand jury, 23 members of the grandury meeting today. As we had predicted on legal A.F. as Karen Friedman, Ick Nifolo, my colleague had predicted from her long-stint in the Manhattan D.A.'s office that they were not meeting just to pat each other on the back before they took a hiatus for three weeks.

They were meeting to vote in secret, the all the grand jury process, being a secret process, and what we know now around this secret process, based on leaks that have already come out, is that the indictment is for a felony, not a misdemeanor, which means that Alvin Bragg and the Manhattan D.A.'s office has figured out a way to thread the needle and come up with not one, but at least two crimes. The first crime was already publicly announced that it would be the falsification of the books and records by Donald Trump to cover up the stormy Daniels $130,000 payment, hush money payment so that she wouldn't go public with the affair

or the sexual relationship that she had with Donald Trump. That's a Michael Cohen issue because Michael Cohen ultimately paid the money to store me Daniels using a revolving credit line of his and then was repaid threefold by the Trump organization through Alan Weisselberg approved by Donald Trump to repay Michael Cohen and it was recorded as legal services rendered. That was the initial case, although now based on the last minute, second day of testimony by David Pecker, the disgraced former publisher and owner of the National Inquirer and former BFF of Donald Trump, I think that there is a broader indictment and we'll get the unceiling of the indictment

and that's when we will be able to read it, we'll be able to analyze it on legal AF and on these kind of hot takes. Right now, we're doing a little bit of shadow boxing and piecing things together based on witnesses that testified. David Pecker testified on Monday, the last witness we believe

that was heard by this grand jury. Why is he important? Because he is the architect of the catch and kill program. And it here's what here's what would happen. The campaign, Kellyanne Conway and others and Donald Trump and even Michael Cohen when he was the inside guy for for Donald Trump would identify women who were going to go public with reports of Donald Trump having sex with them while he was married, and as a candidate, then David Pecker would have his team reach out to these women, pay them off, say that he was going to run a

story about them or even a cover story about them in the national inquire or the globe or any of his other periodicals and then kill the story. So pay them, have them sign a non disclosure agreement, confidentiality agreement, and then the story never saw the light of day. This, according to David Pecker's own testimony, which we know because David Pecker and his which we know because David Pecker and his media group, America Media International entered into a non-prossecution agreement with the federal prosecutors, not state prosecutors, but the federal prosecutors three or four years ago and had to list all of the things that they did wrong. And they admitted in order to get the non prosecution agreement in place with the Southern District of New York attorney, uh, uh, US attorney's office is, uh, admitted

that they had that David Pecker designed the program have met with Kellyanne Conway and with Michael Cohen in the, in the Palm Beach County offices of the national inquire. I think it's in Lantana, and they devised this scheme and the first test case for the Catch and Kill program was not Stormy Daniels, but it was Karen McDougal, a former Playboy playmate who told a similar story as Stormy Daniels.

She got paid $150,000. This was David Pecker's big chance to demonstrate that this could work. That was a direct payment that was made by Donald Trump in the organization in return for a confidential settlement agreement. And we believe that the grand jury now, based on Monday's testimony of David Pecker, is doing a broader investigation, which is so smart by Alvin Bragg. And I'll tell you why in a minute, he's not. Alvin Bragg is not putting all of his eggs in the Michael Cohen basket. For obvious reasons, and some baggage there because Michael, of course, pled guilty and served time related to being involved in the stormy

Daniels affair. But on the McDougal case, the McDougall example of the catch and kill program, Michael Cohen's not involved. It's David Pecker. It's David Pecker coordinating with Donald Trump. So it eliminates a Michael Cohen problem because if you make it a broader scheme, that means you can have other witnesses testified to it who have already testified who don't have the similar problem that Michael Cohen has as a witness. Genius. Genius, if this is true, will know

when the indictment is unsealed, but we have a pretty good sense that this is now a broader investigation, including Karen McDougall, including Stormy Daniels, who did not testify to the grand jury, but has agreed that she would testify, Stormy Daniels, who did not testify to the grand jury, but has agreed that she would testify stormy Daniels at an ultimate trial of Donald Trump. Won't that be a spectacle? Donald Trump now indicted what does that mean? Well, his TV lawyer, because it's not his day-to-day criminal defense lawyer, that's Susan Necklace, but Joe Takapina, who's making all the rounds with on, on, on all the television

shows, he's already given a statement just an hour or so ago that there will be a surrender of Donald Trump. They're not going to have to pull them out kicking and screaming through Ron DeSantis in Florida, Mar-a-Lago where he, where he's at. He's got a self surrender. The secret service by law has to be by Donald Trump's side the whole time. I mean, if he goes into prison, I guess the secret service will say, you know, you got it from here, Bureau of Prisons and Guards, we're out. But for every other moment, secret service stands by the president that their guard, the ex-president that they're guarding. Secret service will take him in to the criminal court buildings in Manhattan and lower Manhattan. They will stand there while he is processed just like every other common criminal.

There's no fast pass for a former president. This isn't Disney. There's no secret velvet line gold plated room where they're going to take Donald Trump. He's going where everybody else goes. He's going to be given an identification number by the state. As any other criminal defendant is for a felony, he's going to be fingerprinted. He's going to be read his Miranda rights. His right to remain silent.

He's going to be fingerprinted, processed, and brought in to a courtroom before a judge. We don't know which judge yet. Could be Judge Juan Mershon, who is the judge presiding over the criminal trial of the Trump organization back in December leading to a 17 count conviction, or it could be another judge that's assigned. Usually it's random. In this case, it's probably going to be assigned by the chief judge of the criminal division of the court system. And we'll know who that is in a few days. The surrender will happen probably early next week. The arrangement will happen. The same day

as the surrender. He will then stand before a court. He'll be in the dock of a court. He'll have the secret service nearby. He'll have his criminal defense lawyer. And we'll see who else joins Susan necklace at that side of the table. And then he will be arraigned. They will read the indictment out loud. We will know exactly which felony counts Donald Trump is being charged with at that moment. We'll report back on legal AF as soon as we hear. Right now we know it's felony, we know it's

indictment, and we know it's related to Stormy Daniels, David Pecker and the Catching Kill program. We're likely to see Karen McDougal's name, remember that name in the indictment as well, because she was the first Stormy Daniels before Stormy Daniels when she got her payment directly from the Trump organization. Alan Weiselberg, you've heard a lot about him. I did a hot take on him today. He's coming at a Rikers Island, the disgraced Trump organization, CFO, after spending five long months there, which is a long time for 74 year old guy who's got his nails manicured

and polished up and lived on Fifth Avenue, wherever he lived, to be sitting in probably one of the worst jails in America. You think the Jan six people are sitting in a bad jail and DC jail, Rikers will beat it. So that's where he's been. And now he's decided with his one phone call a day to make a change in his lawyers. He had Nick Ravanti. Nick Ravanti, one of the best criminal defense lawyers in town. Remember, the Trump organization is paying for the legal services, the legal fees that

are for Alan Weisselberg's lawyers. So what do you think is really controlling who Alan Weisselberg gets as his lawyer? And it pissed off the Trump world to no end that Nick Ravanti had Alan Weiselberg cooperate with the Manhattan DA and meet with them before he testified. And now, before he comes out and as a free man and is back to polite society, Alan Weiselberg with his one phone call a day, switched lawyers

and the law firm that he got, the law firm that he got just represented Matt Gates and got him off the hook on the DOJ minor girl sex trafficking ring issue. So in the MAGA world, that law firm claim an erosion burg. It's probably well considered. So that is where Al Weiselberg in jail still has decided that he's going to go now. And why is that important? Cause the Manhattan D.A.'s office now has the honor of being the first prosecutors, Alvin Bragg,

the first prosecutor to go after Donald Trump before Fony Willis, before Jack Smith. But it's not the last thing. I think now Alvin Bragg's got a taste for this. He's already beat the Trump organization 17.0 in December in the tax evasion case. And now he's got Stormy Daniels and the broader catch and kill indictment of the first time in 250 plus years of a president. And I think he's going for more. And Alouisalberg is the key, follow the money,

all money in the Trump Organization has forever since Fred Trump, Don's father gone through Al Weiselberg, really important witness. And they have him dead to rights on some other fraud that Al Weiselberg participated in related to appraisal fraud, loan valuation fraud, insurance fraud, you name, you name it and the F words been violated by the Trump organization. And Al Weisselberg knows where it is. Donald Trump worried about that. Has now we believe put Al Weisselberg behind a stronger, more pro Trump person. So that's going on. That's the other wheel that's spinning at the very same time as the first time in American

history that a former president is indicted. Now, on now, the Fox News people are all ringing their hands and audibly gasping on the air when they announce the indictment. Sandra Smith today on the five, you could hear people go, oh my god, like they have been following the news lately about the velocity at which the prosecution has been happening. But there's also reporting that there's a lot of ex-employees of the Trump organization who are cheering and texting each other, and they're really, really happy about it.

This is not like, Donald Trump was not and has never been the bastion of of pious behavior and conduct in honesty. He's been the opposite. I've had the I've had a front row seat to observe Donald Trump my entire life living in the tri state area, living in the New York area and watching Donald Trump as a as a corrupt businessman dating back to his father as a corrupt casino operator, as a corrupt hotel year, as a, you know, you as a corrupt celebrity apprentice and then using that as a side grift for all of his other Donald Trump stakes, Donald Trump University, Donald Trump calling cards and the rest. I'm not making this up. Now this is who the Republican party put into

office, but they shouldn't be surprised that Donald Trump took his entire baggage with him in ways of operating and all of his cronies and henchmen and created a kleptocracy in the White House and then put his hand on every burner on the stove in order to test the limits of what of what he would be how people would push back against him and try to blow through every guardrail of democracy. Or as Jamie Raskin once said, you know, he almost accidentally toppled over, you know, the constitutional republic of America. That's that's Donald Trump. So nobody should be surprised. And with this fake chagrin that Donald Trump, you know, if Barack Obama was indicted for a crime, you'd be shocked.

If Joe Biden was indicted for a crime, if Jimmy Carter was indicted for a crime, you'd be shocked. But Donald Trump, you're shocked if he's not indicted. I thought he was, I thought all this time, Donald Trump was trying to get indicted for a crime because he thought that would lead to more fundraising money. He's acting exactly like a person in every jurisdiction that is trying to get indicted. And when he and he can't help himself, every time he tweets or social truths out, another

prosecutor wakes up and grabs it off the printer, you know, the electronic printer and puts it in the file under future exhibit A. Every judge refers to his, his social media against him to find against him, to find that he files meritless cases, to find that he's got criminal intent to find that he's guilty of the defamation or the crime. And yet he doesn't stop. And the lawyers around him, of course, can't stop him, which is why everyone's going to wake up tomorrow morning for those that read a written paper, a real newspaper, to a front page headline worldwide. Trump indicted in, you know, 40 point font on the cover of every newspaper around the world, just like it is an electronic version right now. So let's summarize, Donald Trump,

and for all the people out there that were in denial, he'll never do, it'll get away with it. This, or, or, or, he'll get elected now because he's been indicted. I mean, how ridiculous is that? The guy lost by seven million votes in every battleground state and people somewhere in the back of their mind

think he's gonna get more votes than he got before. This leads to an accretion of more votes in his favor. I don't think so. But in any event, what's the headline? Donald Trump indicted. It's a felony, meaning the Manhattan DA's office has figured out how to link the books and entry fraud that it was listed as the payment to stormy Daniels was listed as a legal expense reimbursement

for Michael Cohen. That's fraud. That's tax evasion. That's money laundering. That's cover up. That's election fraud. And if it is all those things, they've got their second crime, whether misdemeanor or felony, and now it's a felony.

Two crimes put together, Mr. Meanor, even misdemeanor equals a felony in the state of New York. And that's what Alvin Bragg, that's the puzzle, the Rubik's cube, that Alvin Bragg and his people have solved because it is a felony indictment. Now if it's what we think it is, each count will be a up to a four-year sentence. It doesn't have to be. It's not mandatory. It's no mandatory minimums in the state of New York for these types of crimes, but it'll be up to four years. So, you know, honestly, the guy could get a year in a, in, in, not in Reikers Island, but in a New York state jail as a result of this.

So all of these people that are on network television and all the Republicans and everybody else who's complaining, this is a travesty and Chris Keist, the lawyer for Donald Trump, one of his many lawyers said, this is the lowest point in the history of US criminal justice system. Obviously, he did not study very well in law school or all of the shameful decisions that have been made in criminal justice, usually against people of color since our formation. But having said that, that's the headline. Okay. So, you know, we were on a, the United States of America was on a 90,155-day streak of no indicted presidents. That streak ended today with the indictment

of Donald Trump by the Manhattan D.A.'s office and Alvin Bragg for the Stormy Daniels catch and kill cover up payment scandal, a rainment and surrender probably early next week, booking, fingerprinting, maybe handcuffs, maybe not depends on the secret service. Fifth amendment rights, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a criminal number in the state of New York system. And then back out the front door because he's probably going to be released on his own reconnaissance. What she does that, we know what happens next. He's gonna do a makeshift press conference

on the steps of the courthouse and then be whisked away into a waiting SUV protected by the Secret Service. That's what we're gonna see, that's what we're gonna follow. I do hot takes like this about once every day at the rate and the velocity at which the wheels of justice returning, I'm doing them about once every couple of hours rate and the velocity at which the wheels of justice are turning. I'm doing them about once every couple of hours on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

We curate all of these top stories at the intersection of law and politics. And I co-anchor a show called Legal AF on the Midas Touch Network with Karen Friedman Agnifalo, who just happens to have been the number two prosecutor in the Manhattan D.A.'s office for 30 years and Ben Mysalis, civil rights lawyer, extraordinary and co-founder of the Midas Touch Network. If you like what I do, you can watch those hot dicks and you can follow me on all social media, including Twitter at MSPOPOC. This is Michael Popoc with the most amazing breaking news of the indictment of a former president Donald Trump today, and I'll see you on legal AF. Lock him up.

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