Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Fed Up Judge Blows the Doors Wide Open on Trump & DOGE

Episode Date: March 14, 2025

In breaking news, a DC Federal Judge has for the first time found that Elon Musk and his DOGE are “federal agencies” exercising tremendous independent executive power at lightning speed and in secret, meaning they are subject to public records requests about their nefarious work aka FOIA requests. Michael Popok explains why this first ruling is so important to outing Musk and DOGE for the American people and in the dozen lawsuits against Trump now about Musk, and how the fight about whether Musk is a “simple advisor” with no power and thus subject to executive privilege, or is an independent actor is heading to the Supreme Court. Head to https://www.fast-growing-trees.com/collections/sale?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=legalaf right now to get 15% off your entire order with code LegalAF! 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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therefore is subject to Freedom of Information Act public records requests. Remember that Doge has tried to shield itself in secrecy, combining secrecy with velocity in order to do maximum damage and impact into the government. And that is the exact reasons that Judge Cooper has ruled that a preliminary injunction should result here to make Doge subject to FOIA, to make the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, known as CREW, their demand for records from the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of DOJ itself.

These public records spill out into the public about what Elon Musk is doing, how he's doing it, how he's accessing personal and financial information and records, who he's firing, who he's defunding, all coming out of this one case. Tide has turned. I'm Michael Popock. You're on the MidasTouch Network and Legal AF. Let's talk about the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington crew versus the US Doge service and Judge Cooper's new decision. We talked a lot about recently on Legal AF, Ben, Mycelis and me in particular,

about there being a need to establish that Doge and Elon Musk are subject to public records laws, sunshine in the government law, sunshine, the best disinfectant and antiseptic. We need to know what's going on. Judge Cooper remarked in his 37 page order, part of which I'm going to read to you in a moment, that it is obvious that Doge and Musk were set up, particularly by Donald Trump, to use surprise, to use velocity, to use speed and secretiveness and secrecy in order to execute their maximum plan, to slash the federal budget, to slash federal funding, to slash personnel, federal workers, in a way that wouldn't allow for congressional oversight violating the checks in balance and separation of powers. And it's that very speed, velocity,

and secrecy that has motivated Judge Cooper to rule on a preliminary injunction that Doge is subject to public records requests and all of this information will now spill out into the public. Now, Krew wanted all this information out by March 10th. That's not happening. The reason they picked March 10th, which is already sort of coming and gone, is they wanted it out while Congress is debating funding. And the judge said,

it's gonna come out on a rolling basis. All of the information about the secret of nature and the secret of work to date of Doge is going to come out in a rolling basis, but I'm not gonna make them do it overnight. And that's probably okay. The big story here, and that's why I'm so excited, is that this is like a pinata of information

that finally a judge has used the right hammer for and it's spilled out. And we're gonna be getting this information. It's gonna be made public through this lawsuit. And then of course, all the other lawsuits will be able to use it and commentators like me will be able to use it. Let me read to you some of the troubling aspects,

some of the troubling findings that the judge made. Let's start on page three over to four where the judge found out that DOJ, its members, Musk have been using an application, a secretive application called Signal, where the judge found out that Doge, its members, Musk, have been using an application, a secretive application called Signal, which allows its users to erase information and communications between them on the platform.

That is exactly violent of a public records loss, which says that agencies have to retain their information so that the public can review it. So he's done as part of his order, a preservation order telling them get off a signal, you need to retain and not destroy or what we call spoliate any of your documents or information.

USDDS, that's DOGE, operations thus far have been marked by unusual secrecy in other ways too. For instance, USDDS, that means DOGE, reportedly installed an outside server at OPM to store government staffers' personal information, including their email accounts. They've also reportedly declined to identify themselves to career officials on request.

That's page eight over to nine. On page three, he talks about the use of signal. Page three, Doge commenced operations prior to President Trump's second inauguration. During the transition period, USDS employees reportedly communicated via the encrypted messaging application signal, which is widely used for auto-delete functionality. Through this function, users can set signal to automatically and permanently delete text messages, which is what they have been doing. And that has been troubling the judge as well.

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For instance, USDS teams reportedly received access to a massive trove of personal information from millions of federal employees maintained by the Office of Personnel Management and sensitive treasury data, including Social Security and Medicare customer payment systems, which also troubles the judge. So the way the judge looks at it, taking media reports about Donald Trump giving Elon Musk so much power, him hollowing out and firing tens of thousands of federal workers, including almost the entirety of US aid, all because of Elon Musk, and defunding as a result that makes them an independent agency subject to Freedom of Information Act request. Now we know what the Trump administration is going to say in response. He's just an advisor. He's just advising the

president. He's covered by the executive immunity and executive privilege. That is going to be the fight we're gonna see break out because of Judge Cooper's new decision. First at the DC Court of Appeals and then up to the United States Supreme Court. But we know and then up to the United States Supreme Court. But we know and everyone knows from the record that's been established already, from Donald Trump's own comments, from Elon Musk's own comments, from the actual proof of the pudding is in the tasting, we see what he's done. That Elon Musk exercises tremendous independent authority in a way that undercuts and undermines cabinet members and Congress and its right of oversight. And because of that he's not just an

advisor, he's an executor, he's an implementer, he's a destroyer of worlds that relate to the federal government and proud of it and public about it except when it comes to releasing public records. And that's where the FOIA, Freedom of Information Act request comes in. And that's where the Crew lawsuit comes into play. So kudos to Crew for having brought the lawsuit, prosecuting it properly, and having Judge Cooper rule in their favor. This will now go to the D.C. Court of Appeals and a three-judge panel on its way to the United States Supreme Court on this fundamental issue. Is Elon Musk a mere advisor, counselor to the president? And the president's still exercising all of the rights

and powers related to the federal agencies, and the cabinet members are too, or is he not? If he's exercising independent, independent, even a slight amount of independent executive power. He's subject to FOIA. That's what Judge Cooper has found. That's what I believe the Court of Appeals will find, and we'll see what happens at the Supreme Court. I'm looking at you, Chief Justice Roberts, and Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, because I know pretty darn well, like I know the back of my hand, that Katanji Brown Jackson, Sotomayor

and Kagan are going to rule that he's not just a mere advisor. He's subject to FOIA, as is the Office of Management and Budget. But what say you, we need two more votes, got to count to five. I think my prediction, Amy Coney Barrett's going to side with the other three, and it's going to be up to Roberts to be deciding vote here. And I think he's gonna find that because of the record that's been developed, that Musk and Doge are subject to public records requests, and we'll be able to get that information, which we can then use on the other dozen or more lawsuits involving Doge and Musk. I'll follow it all right here closely and bring it to you here on MidasTouch and on Legal AF the podcast.

Wednesdays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Eastern time, we cover exactly this type of thing at the intersection of law and politics and explain why it matters. So join us, we're the number, we're I don't know, top 10 in the world in podcasts, but that's because of you. We're doing the curating, we're doing the commentating,

you're doing the watching, listening and engagement. And we appreciate that. And pick us up on all audio podcast platforms as well if you like your podcast audio fashion. Come over to Legal AF, the YouTube channel that I curate. And we do this every day, every hour with some amazing new commentators that you haven't seen before. Come over to Legal AF, the YouTube channel. So until my next reporting, I'm Michael Popock.

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