Legal AF by MeidasTouch - INVESTIGATION OPENED into New Trump BRIBERY SCHEME

Episode Date: May 25, 2024

The Senate Democratic leadership is opening up a formal investigation into Big Oil and Trump’s attempt to accept a $1 billion dollar bribe to wreck President Biden’s clean energy, water and air policies and laws. Michael Popok breaks down the new fundraiser Trump attended in Houston with oil executives while Senators Whitehouse and Wyden call for public hearings and to get copies of the draft laws written by Big Oil for Trump to sign. Thanks to VIIA! Head to https://viiahemp.com and use code LEGALAF for 15% off your purchase. Visit https://meidastouch.com for more! Join us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/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 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 Lights On with Jessica Denson: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/lights-on-with-jessica-denson On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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take. If the Senate Democrats have their way, Donald Trump's not going to get away with trying to sell his energy policy to the highest bidder in the form of big oil and fossil fuel executives, wherein in April at a chop steak dinner at Mar-a-Lago with 20 oil executives, he offered effectively to put up to the highest bidder in return for $1 billion quid pro quo to sell his energy policy, to dismantle hundreds of laws put on the books by Joe Biden, who's been the best president for the environment ever. That means all of his executive decisions, all of his rulings, all of his orders, and all of his laws have helped clean energy and our water and air. Donald Trump doesn't like it. The fat cats of the oil company don't like it either. So Donald Trump had the dinner. It got reported he had the dinner and immediately Jamie Raskin in

the House said he was going to inquire as to that meeting. But because the Democrats don't control the House, with all due respect, I'm not sure Jamie Raskin's inquiry is going to go anywhere. We won't have subpoena power. Not so in the Senate. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and other senators have joined together and they do have subpoena power for the committees that they oversee. Particularly, you've got Ron Wyden of Oregon joining with Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island to get to the bottom of the sale of energy policy by Donald Trump. And they want to see in particular in their letters, which are a precursor to subpoenas, they want to see the draft legislation and executive orders that the oil company has drafted

for Donald Trump to sign when he gets elected in their imagination. Remember, Donald Trump has put the White House up for sale. And for the oil industry, the asking price, the entry price is a billion dollars of donations to Donald Trump, which he says, you'll get back in more than enough. Your return on your investment will be greater because the amount that you will save and the amount that you will make because I'm going to dismantle clean energy will more than make up for the billion dollars that you give me. There's a crime for that. There's a word for that crime. You're not allowed to sell American domestic or foreign policy in return for dollars.

to sell American domestic or foreign policy in return for dollars. That's a crime. Justice department should look into that crime. In the meantime, the senators are gonna end up issuing subpoenas to L companies and they wanna see, for instance, the legislation that has been drafted that we've heard about

that's ready for Donald Trump's signature. Nothing like having the wolves write the legislation for the chicken house, right? Because that's what you have here. You have the industry, the fossil fuel industry writing its own regulations. What could go wrong? Nothing at all.

So this also comes in the back, the dinner I talked to you about, the chop steak dinner. Is that really the best Donald Trump can come up with? Chop steak. At Mar-a-Lago was on April the 11th, but just this past week, Donald Trump had another hosted dinner in Houston with the same group to raise money. And in that one, it was sponsored by Kelsey Warren, a billionaire who owns a pipeline empire and wants to expand internationally with Donald Trump's approval. And also Harold Hamm, H-A-M-M, who writes much of Donald Trump's energy policy and one of the pioneers of shale oil and fracking and a third Vicky Hollop who leads Occidental Petroleum, a Houston based oil company. This is just a

big fat cat super packed dinner in Houston just this past week. So Donald Trump's not stopping. He's making it very transparent in public. A vote for me is a vote for dirty energy. A vote for me is a vote for dirty water and dirty air. And to have the legacy for your children and grandchildren be the potential destruction of the planet with greenhouse gases. That's all I, I mean, what else can I say? You're allowed to meet with lobbyists

and have them help shape and influence policy. That's, and money, ever since Citizens United at the United States Supreme Court level, and big pools of dark money flood into the American electorate and help get people elected who will do the bidding for these various industries, whether it's the National Rifle Association and the gun lobby,

big sugar, big oil, big guns, big ammo, big tech. There's a reason we call them these things. They're big and they're influential and they throw their money around. And the Supreme Court says it's all First Amendment protected speech, political speech at the highest level. Can't do anything about it. We're never going to get, I don't mean to break it to anybody, manage expectations here. We're never going to get

big money and black money, black donor money out of politics. We're not going to. And now in the hands of Trump, he's just so obvious and flagrant about it. And the Senate's going to have to get to the bottom of it. And I don't want it to just end with this hot tick. I want to support Senators Whitehouse and Wyden and their investigation of Donald Trump. I want public hearings. I want the oil industry brought before them. I know they're busy bringing leaders of public education, you know, elementary schools and

colleges around the country to talk about protests on campus. I get that's sort of important, except it's always being led by Republicans to try to embarrass Democrats and urban centers that are generally Democratic. But where is the outrage, Elise Stefanik? Where is the outrage, Marjorie Taylor Greene? Where is the outrage, Matt Gaetz, about big oil, buying your children's energy and environmental protection legacy? Where is that?

You're fine with it, apparently. But fortunately, the lawmakers are not. They have written now to the, and I want to list these companies here on this hot take, to the chief executives of Chenier Energy, Chesapeake Energy, Chevron, Continental Resources, EQT Corporation, Exxon Mobil, Occidental Petroleum, and Venture Global, and the president of the American Petroleum Institute, which is basically the NRA of the fossil fuel industry of oil,

about the draft executive orders, regulatory proposals, and other policy related documents according to the New York Times that the companies have created for the purpose of potential use by another Trump administration. My favorite time of year summer is setting in. The days are getting longer, but don't let the added sun get in the way of your sleep cycle. Restore your zen with partner VIA Hemp. Trusted by over 250,000 customers, VIA Hemp products are the Swiss Army knife of wellness. From setting the mood in the bedroom to chilling out after a long day,

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And so we know what they're going to do. We know the big oil is only concerned with being acquisitive, buying each other. I mean, ExxonMobil announced that it was acquiring pioneer natural resources for $60 billion. Chevron is buying Hess for $53 billion. And others that support Donald Trump want to expand internationally. They want a drill baby drill. They want fracking. The reality is they don't even recognize what good Joe Biden has done for even big oil. He's

approved oil fields. We have more oil surplus under Joe Biden than any other president. Let me repeat that. We have more oil surplus under Joe Biden than any other president. Prices are higher than everybody would like. I was just in California and I was seeing fives, five handles in the price of gas. I get it, it's high. Yes, you can't all have electric cars.

I have one, but it's hard just to have an electric car. And so that has to be addressed. I don't know but it's hard just to have an electric car. And so that has to be addressed. I don't know if it's tapping the strategic reserves by Joe Biden or doing other things to lower the price at the pump and stop gouging by oil executives. Well, one place would be to stop them from dismantling clean energy proposals and requirements. clean energy proposals and requirements. So we'll continue to follow the sale of American democracy that's being led by the chief auctioneer, the auctioneer in chief, Donald J. Trump. I mean, you can already buy a piece of Donald J. Trump.

I've said this before. He's for sale. He literally is for sale. Foreign and domestic investors can buy a meme stock. I know people think I'm saying mean. It's also a mean stock, but it's meme, M-E-M-E stock. I know people think I'm saying mean. It's also a mean stock, but it's meme, M-E-M-E stock. Has no real value behind it, has no economics behind it

to support the price, to support the share price. Securities and Exchange Commission, I'm sure is looking into it. It's being propped up by followers of Donald Trump that want to show support for him regardless of the fact that this company beneath it, Truth Social Media, has like no followers, no subscribers, no revenue base, and its expenses far out exceed the amount of its revenue. It's a candidate for bankruptcy. It's why

they've gone through four auditors, including one that was found to have committed flagrant fraud in audits around the country. That's the reason. But you can buy it. DJT, they changed their stock symbol to Donald Trump's initials. So why is anybody surprised? He literally sold the suit off his back, the suit that he was arraigned in. He chopped up into little pieces and sold it in NFTs, non-fungible tokens, that you can buy to support Donald Trump. And if you're big oil, and that's the problem I'm having, I get hedging your bets. There's a reason Silicon Valley,

which usually trans-democratic, is being pulled into the orbit of Donald Trump just in case, betting on both horses in the race. I get it, but you don't have to do it with such gusto. You don't have to do it with such money. And oil, big oil is like, we can't wait to get rid of the Democrats. Democrats are terrible.

Cause what Donald Trump will do is what he did last time, but now with a vengeance, literally. He'll put as head of every major environmental task force and department and cabinet position, a member or former member of that industry. Former coal executives, former natural gas executives, former oil executives leading environmental protection, leading water, leading air, leading task force, right?

He'll create new blue ribbon panels led by the industry to cut through the red tape and eliminate all of these regulations that keep our planet humming and safe. We got to follow it right here on the Midas Touch Network. I'll follow anything that happens related to the attempted crime of selling our public policy and selling our environmental policy to the attempted crime of selling our public policy and selling our environmental policy to the highest bidder led by Donald Trump. One place that might have touched network and legal AF. Free subscribe, help them get to three million free subscribers.

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Look under contributors, look under playlists, look for Michael Popok. I'm right there, 1,300 videos and counting. And until my next hot take, until my next Legal AF, this is Michael Popok reporting. Heary, heary, Legal AF Law this is Michael Popak reporting.