Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Furious Judge Throws Trumps Lawyer Out In Open Court

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

In breaking, a New York Federal Judge has “fired” Trump’s handpicked MAGA “US Attorney” who has been going after NYAG Tish James and her office for Trump, and declared that he is disqualified for working on any criminal investigation involving the AG’s fraud investigation of Trump or about the NRA. Michael Popok explains that this is the SIXTH judge to rule against Trump and his corrupt DOJ so far about US Attorneys, as judges move closer to yanking these unqualified lawyers’ bar licenses as well. IQ Bar: Text LEGALAF to 64000 to get 20% off all IQBAR products, plus FREE shipping. Message and data rates may apply. 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 Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum with Dr. Steve Hassan: ⁠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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Schofield to not only find that one of Donald Trump's hand-picked prosecutors was illegally appointed as a U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, but has also achieved the remedy where Judge Schofield has ordered that John Sarkony, not only that his subpoenas that were issued under his name as a phony interim or acting U.S. attorney are invalid so that the New York Attorney General's office can't ignore them completely, but she went one step further and said that John Sarkoney cannot be involved with any prosecution involving Letitia James, the New York Rifle Association, or the National Rifle Association, or the prosecution or the case brought by the Attorney General's office against Donald Trump and his family for fraud.

And the investigation that they're trying to do on behalf of Donald Trump to get into that investigation, John Sarkone has been sidelined from that. under Judge Schofield's new order, which I'm going to read for you and put up in Legal A.F. Substack, thanks for being here on Midas Dutch and on Legal AF. Let's dive into it. You might think this is a bit of a broken record because Lorna Schofield represents the sixth judge, six judge plus one. I'll tell you about the one in a minute.

That has all ruled against Donald Trump from the district court level up to the appellate level in places like Nevada, California, New Jersey, Eastern District of Virginia, and now in New York that Donald Trump has violated the required statutes and constitution and illegally appointing people to be his chosen prosecutors, U.S. attorneys in one of the 93 districts that make up our federal court system. All Donald Trump has to do is appoint somebody that can get the support in the Senate, put that person through the Senate confirmation process, and he's got himself a U.S. attorney like any other rational president.

But Donald Trump doesn't want to do that. He doesn't care about these people actually getting confirmed by the Senate. He instead wants to just use them for as short amount of time as possible to go after his political rivals and political critics like James Comey, former FBI director, or Lindsay or Lettisha James, New York Attorney General, or Lisa Cook, a Federal Reserve board member, fill in the blank, right? And this is all being led behind the scenes by Donald Trump's handpicked Department of Justice personnel, Pam Bond. and then Ed Martin, right? Ed Martin, who could not himself get confirmed as a U.S. attorney for D.C. That's why we have Janine Piro, but he's running something called the weaponization committee of the Department of Justice, and he picked Sarkony. Sarkony got in, and now Judge Schofield has said, no, you were illegally appointed. The subpoenas you issued are quashed, and you can't participate in this investigation any longer.

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And then LegalAF has a substack, which also has paid membership for your support. All right. Let's get down to page nine. Let me back it up a bit. the appointment of John Sarkoni was fined for the first 120 days under the statute, 28 U.S.C. 546. The 120 days expired in July, and he kept going. And then he sent a letter to the judges of the Northern District of New York. And he said, hey, great news.

I'm now a special attorney appointed by Pam Bondi, and I get to sit around for 210 days. Everything okay now? No, not everything's not okay. you only get to have a 210-day additional term if you satisfy one of the two criteria in the statute. You are already in that particular office for 90 days. John Sarkoony was a MAGA lawyer, never been a prosecutor before. So, of course, he didn't have that criteria, didn't meet that criteria.

Or you are Senate confirmed in some other position. Like maybe you were Senate confirmed for the Securities and Exchange Commission. Okay, you can slide over and be the U.S. attorney for 210 days until Donald Trump gets his act together. But Sarkooney didn't satisfy either of those. He just kept issuing subpoenas, which have now been declared to be illegal. Here's what Judge Schofield says on page nine. Mr. Sarkoni is not lawfully serving as acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District. His appointment violates the Federal Vacancy Reform Act and the statutes governing U.S. attorney appointments. Several courts, including the Third Circuit, have recently addressed similar appointment maneuvers and reached the same conclusion.

See, Judge Schofield is standing on the shoulders of a body of work in which judges in Nevada in California, judges the Third Circuit Court of Appeals sitting in Philadelphia, who bounced Alina Haba and fired her that led to her residing. Judge Curry in the Eastern District of Virginia, finding that Lindsay Halligan was illegally appointed. Now, they've all handled it slightly differently. Like Third Circuit said, position vacated to be filled by the judges.

Haba saw the writing on the wall with the Department of Justice, and she resigned. Lindsay Halligan, Judge Curry found that she was illegally appointed before Thanksgiving, said that there was a vacancy, but Lindsay Halligan kept showing up to work, which has caught the ire of Judge Novak, who yesterday in Eastern District of Virginia issued a scathing order directed at Lindsay Halligan to explain why, effectively, she shouldn't be disbarred from practicing law before him in his court, by masquerading as a U.S. attorney. Good question.

She has about five more days to file something with her signature on it, and we're all on pins and needles, including Judge Novak, as to whether Lindsay Halligan signs her name as the acting U.S. attorney or U.S. attorney again. One piece of advice, free advice to Lindsay Halligan.

Don't. Just say your citizen Halligan, but that's for another hot take. This episode, it's brought to you by IQ Bar, our exclusive snack, hydration, and coffee sponsor. IQ bar protein bars, IQ mix, hydration mixes, and IQ Joe mushroom coffees are the delicious, low sugar, brain and body fuel you need to win your day. As someone who's constantly switching between research, recording, my family, and long work days, I rely on snacks that keep me sharp without spiking my blood sugar. An IQ bar has genuinely delivered. The ultimate sampler pack is the easiest way to try it all.

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including the ultimate sampler pack, plus free shipping. To get your 20% off, text legal AF to 64,000. Text legal AF to 64,000. That's legal AF to 64,000. Message and data rates may apply. See terms for details. Let's go back to Mr. Sarkoni. Because this is on page 9, Judge, Schofield. Because Mr. Sarkoney used authority he did not lawfully possess to direct the issuance of the subpoenas, the subpoenas are quashed, meaning they're not valid any longer. Mr. Sarkone is also disqualified from further participation in the underlying criminal investigation. She then goes through on page 10 and 11. There's only four ways to fill a vacancy. And Donald Trump, F them all up. Just F them all up. You get somebody for 120 days, well, that's expired.

you put somebody else in that's already Senate confirmed or has been in the office for 90 days, John Sarko doesn't satisfy that. Or you, or the district court judges take over and they appoint somebody until the president can get around to taking the position. The only other way to do it is the actual first assistant that was in the office at the time the vacancy was created can step into the role. John Sarkoni wasn't the first assistant. They try to make them that later. Or as Judge Schofield said, in her order about all these maneuvers, here's what she said on page two. The U.S. attorney initially appointed Mr. Sarkoony as interim for 120 days.

When that term expired, the district judges declined to extend his tenure. The Department of Justice did not follow any of the procedures that the federal law requires. Instead, when the judges refused to extend his term, the department took coordinated steps through personnel moves and shifting titles to install Mr. Sarkoni as acting U.S. attorney. Federal law does not permit such a workaround. Let me show you John Sarkozy to know who I'm talking about. Here's a clip from John Sarkoney. I'm appalled that there was no police presence around the Capitol. In fact, Albany Police never even showed up on the scene.

You have the U.S. attorney chased down the street with a night. knife, knife-wielding maniac, not one call from the chief police, not one squad car pulled up. And thank God I called the sheriff instead of the Albany Police, because they should have been there. The legislature was in session, okay? There's a lot of people up in the Capitol, and you've got no police presence at all. Disgraceful. And I'm not blaming, you know, the police department itself. I'm just talking about Albany County, whoever runs the show. and whoever is putting out budgets and saying whether police could be there or not be there,

that's what I'm talking about. Not qualified. Not qualified. Now, the remedy is interesting. I want to compare it to what Judge Curry did in the Eastern District of Virginia about Lindsay Allegan. She declared that there was a vacancy in the position for the entire office and that Lindsay Allegan was no longer U.S. attorney and the job had to be filled by somebody else. that didn't stop her from going to work every day.

And that's the problem that Judge Novak pointed out and is requiring a new filing. But she declared a vacancy for all criminal matters and civil matters that are in that district. That's not what Judge Schofield did. Maybe because she's not in the Northern District of New York. She's in the Southern District of New York

where the case was sent to Manhattan because of the conflict of interest between the federal judges and Mr. Sarkoni. She instead said the following. He's not bounced from every position and running the office. He is bounced from everything related effectively to Letitia James. Mr. Sarkoni on page 24 is disqualified from further involvement in prosecuting or supervising any investigation pertaining to New York versus Trump. See, this is them investigating the New York Attorney General's investigation that led to the fraud accounts being proven before Judge and Goron in New York State Supreme Court against.

Donald Trump and his family. Or the National Rifle Association here, Donald Trump trying to support friendly neighborhood and RA again. But he is now bounced from all those investigations and if he's and he can't be involved with any new subpoenas to her office. Will Trump and Sarkony and Bondi and Ed Martin defy Judge Schofield's order? If they do look for Letitia James's office and very skilled lawyers running back to Judge Schofield and telling him that and finding a contempt proceeding her contempt order. What Schofield really wants to have happen is that the case goes back to the Northern District, like in Albany, New York, and let it play out there on the subpoenas. She originally said, I know there's a lot of attacks on the investigation, that it was retaliatory, that it's

done for a vindictive investigation or prosecution. I'm leaving that for another judge. I'm just doing whether he, Sarkoni, was illegally appointed, and I find that he was. We'll continue to follow it all. Thanks for being here. This is Michael Popock reporting. Can't get your fill of Legal A.F. Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal A.F. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the substack. You'll find the court filing in the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do call, wait for it, morning A.F. What else? All the other contributors from Legal A.F are there as well. We got some new reporting.

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