Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Judge Luttig SPILLS THE BEANS on PLAN to DEFEAT TRUMP

Episode Date: August 30, 2024

In an Exclusive Legal AF by Meidas Touch interview, Michael Popok is joined again by conservative icon, constitutional and presidential scholar, former federal appellate and lifelong Republican, Judge J. Michael Luttig, to discuss in detail his strongly held view that the very soul of America and its Rule of Law and Constitutional Republic is on the ballot this November. Judge Luttig tells Popok this battle for the soul of our country, combined with his love and country and faith, compelled Judge Luttig to not only oppose Trump’s “highjacking” of democracy and his party, but to strongly endorse VP Kamala Harris for President. As Judge Luttig so eloquently puts it during the interview, we are one party short of a 2-party system, and the choice is clear for November in that the Democratic party is the only party left to serve as the guardian of our democracy. Visit https://meidastouch.com for more! Join the Legal AF 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 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 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 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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As I've said before, I'll say it again, because only I can say it, because Judge Ludwig is too modest. If they were etching another Mount Rushmore of conservative icons and constitutional scholars, Judge Ludwig would certainly be etched on that mountain. There are very few people that can say that they threw themselves in front of a

speeding train out of control, hell bent on overturning democracy in the form of Donald Trump than what J. Michael Ludwig did, Michael Ludwig did on that moment when it was really important to our democracy in his guidance of Vice President Pence. But as everybody also knows, Judge Ludwig is a lifelong Republican, conservative, proud of it, patriot, and the first order, served under President Bush in 1991, also with Reagan, was a law clerk for Judge Scalia. Nobody can challenge the bona fides of Judge Ludwig when it comes to being a Republican, a conservative, or a patriot. But it comes as no shock based on his appearances on this network before.

Judge Ludwig has come out for the first time in his career to endorse a Democrat for president, Kamala Harris. In a heartfelt, sincere, authentic five-page letter that went out like a bombshell about a week ago. Judge Lutick let the world know, not in secret, not behind the curtain of an election booth, but because he felt it was important to the public to know where he stood and why he was voting for Kamala Harris. Before we get to Judge Lutick, let me firstly welcome you, Judge. Thanks for being back with us. Thank you, Michael.

It's always a pleasure to be on with you and the Midas Touch. I love the comment that you gave to CNN after the five pages came out. I'm going to read from that. I'm going to do some excerpts from the letter, although I commend everyone to read all five pages, single-spaced letters, anything that Judge Lutig writes. You should read if you're a patriot in our participatory democracy.

Let me read to you for our audience what you commented to CNN about why you wrote the letter. Of course, we're going to amplify that here for our audience. You said, the first thing all of us are taught is right from wrong. We're not taught right from left. I thank God, my parents, and my country every day for teaching me right from wrong, especially in these days. In my faith, we believe that we will one day answer for our wrongs. I've always tried to live my life in anticipation of that day.

Imperfectly, to be sure, but I have tried. My endorsement of the vice president was the right thing to do. It would have been wrong for me to stay silent, and I believe I would have one day had to answer for that silence. It's really that simple. I'm going to get to your excerpts, but Judge, why don't you talk straight to our audience about what got you to the point of just not opposing MAGA and Trump, but actually moving to endorse Kamala Harris, who's obviously the leader of the Democratic Party. Michael, thank you for re-reading for your audience that very deeply personal note that I sent to CNN

personal note that I sent to CNN only moments before they released my endorsement publicly. CNN asked me, would I like to make any additional statement to accompany my five and a half page letter. And I had been thinking about that in the, that morning. And I said, yes, I would. And I was out of town in a hotel room in Texas. And I typed out those words that you just read in about five minutes and sent them to CNN with a note that said, I would like for you to recite these words when you announce my endorsement of the vice president.

It was very personal. As you can tell, for me, the most significant thing I said there was the reference to my faith, to my Christian faith. And I had concluded long before the endorsement that I would endorse the Democratic candidate for president, whether it would have been the current president or Kamala Harris, the vice president. And as I said, in my faith, I believe that I would have had to answer to my God for my silence if I had not endorsed Kamala Harris. And that's because, of course, of the fundamental wrong. And I'm purposely not going to use legalese here because this is what it has come down to in

America. It's nothing less than right and wrong, okay? And we all know that. And even the Republicans who support the former president, they know it in their heart. They just don't have the courage, the political courage or the moral courage to stand up against the wrong that they are now supporting and endorsing. I don't want to be, and I did not want to be in that position on my final days on this earth. This was for me a very significant moment in my life personally, but also personally for my country, the United States of America. Yeah, I use the word conservative in one of my descriptors for you, but courageous would have been the right

way to start it off because it takes a lot of courage to look America in the eye and the people in your party and the headwinds around that and to say, I'm a patriot first. I'm a constitutional scholar and protector of the presidency and I'm a man of faith. This is the right thing to do, not for any other reason, but because it's right or wrong. You and I were talking before, in preparation for the interview, and you and I often agree on the fundamentals that relate to patriotism here. I've said a similar comment to yours. I've said it's not about red and blue. It's about red, white and blue. We're one party short in a two-party system

here. And none of us on the Midas Touch Network, on Legal.if, me or you, want, we can't have a constitutional republic that only has two parties where one party has hollowed itself out and it's become one party on one side itself out and it's become one party on one side and a guy named Trump on the other and a MAGA movement, whatever that is behind it. I need, we need as an American people, a healthy functioning democracy with two healthy functioning parties. We may not agree on policy.

You and I, I'm sure could spend hours over a beer disagreeing fundamentally about policy, but not about patriotism, not about light versus dark. And I think that's what struck me and almost brought a tear to my eye when I read your five and a half pages. Well, you know, Michael, the political class and now the followers of the political class, and now the followers of the political class, and particularly the former president and the Republican Party, they have sought to redefine patriotism. They have sought to redefine American democracy, but neither of those is subject to redefinition.

There is a truth, there is a truth about patriotism, and there's a truth about American democracy. And the former president and the Republican party can deny it all they want, just like they've denied fact after fact after fact after fact since January 6, 2021. But the fact that they deny it doesn't make that denial true and it never will. Agreed. I mean, we're looking at this at the periodic table, patriotism is an inert element. It is immutable. It's not something like you said, that's given to opinion. I'm as big a patriot as you are, and it's not tied to my party.

You can even hear it when some of these podcasters on the right wing, they say things about the Democratic convention recently, not that we're going to dive too much into politics, where they say, wait a minute, they're waving flags. They're wearing camo hats. That's our thing. No, it's not your thing. I get to wear a flag and a flag pin and I get to be just as patriotic as anybody else. And, you know, and for a while, Democrats were timid and scared during the first Trump administration about showing their patriotism because the flag became synonymous with something dark as opposed to something beautiful and light. I would just add to that, Michael, that today, for purposes of this election,

that is not the Republicans' thing. And it is, affirmatively, the Democratic Party's thing, if you will, patriotism and devotion to country. In my view, the Republican Party has squandered that over the past four years. And it's unforgivable as a political matter, though as of course, as you know, I don't really care about that. Yeah. I think it's a good way to segue. We've kept the audience waiting long enough for those that haven't read it. We will post it on the Midas Touch Network and on the website, but let me read from excerpts of it. We could have you do

it, but I think it's easier if I do it, less embarrassing for you. You certainly wrote it and wrote it beautifully. Let me read from excerpts of it and then we can, you and I can talk about it. This is the start, the title of the letter, Endorsement of Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris. Almost four years ago on January 6th, 2021, a stake was driven through the heart of America's democracy. And on that day, American democracy was left teetering on a nice edge. On that day, the prescribed day for the choosing of the American president,

there was not a peaceful transfer of power for the first time in almost 250 years since the founding of the nation. Judge Ludwig continues, because of the former president's continued knowingly false claims that he won the 2020 election, millions of Americans no longer have faith and confidence in our national elections and may never will again. Because of the former president's knowingly false claims, many Americans, especially young Americans tragically, have begun to question whether constitutional democracy is the best form of self-government for America. The 2020 presidential election, of course, was not stolen from the former president,

and he knows that. It was the former president who attempted to steal the 2020 presidential election from the American people, not they from him. To attempt to steal an election in the United States of America is an attempt to steal America's democracy. The letter continues, Judge Ludic continues on page two, he and his party, talking now about the Republican party, defiantly refuse even to pledge that they will honor and respect the vote and the will of the American people in the upcoming presidential election. In this defiant refusal, the Republican candidate for the presidency by a vote of the American people. And then I want to go to page four and then I'll come back. I want to ask you a point of question about this because you talk about the Hobbesian choice and the binary choice here.

On page four you say this time for America's choosing has come. It is time for all Americans to stand and affirm whether they believe in American democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law, and want for America the same or whether they do not. In a word, for America and Americans, this is no Hobson's choice at all. America's two political parties are the political guardians of American democracy. Regrettably, in the presidential election of 2024, there is only one political party and one candidate for the presidency that can claim the mantle of defender and protector of America's democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law. As a result, I will

unhesitatingly vote for the Democratic Party's candidate for the President of the United States, Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris. Judge, you could have written this letter any number of ways. There may have even been drafts that I'm not asking you to tell our audience whether there were. But you made this about being on the right side of history, being on the right side of your morals and your ethics and your faith in the decision making, but then went further to talk about the two parties and how one party has abdicated that responsibility,

and then further still to actually endorse for the first time in your career a Democrat for president, why did you feel it was necessary at this moment in history to write the letter and talk to the American people in those terms? Michael, I actually believe that this is the most important moment in American history during my entire lifetime. I can't even imagine that any moment approximating this one would ever occur in the comparatively short time I have left on this earth. It was, it was a, every sentence was and is rich Because every sentence was and is rich with America, American's values, American's principles, to democracy and to the rule of law, all of which are the basis upon which this nation

was founded almost 250 years ago. And Michael, Michael never once before in those almost 250 years has any person questioned any of that until Donald Trump has questioned every single bit of it. It just simply cannot be that America can continue as the beacon of democracy and freedom to the world led by the former president of the United States. I said in that letter and a passage that would be considered a digression in our talk today, but for the past two or three, four years as I've been speaking and writing

about all of this, I've returned repeatedly to the founding fathers and their words, their concerns 250 years ago about America's, and America's future. And I included in that letter two particular passages from different of our founding fathers, and I won't give the detail now. But the founding fathers were concerned most of anything at all, Michael, about a populist demagogue who would lure America away from its founding principles and its values and all that it stood for and follow that populist demagogue wherever he or she led them.

Second, in an unbelievably prescient and prophetic statement, I think Alexander Hamilton or vice versa in 1792, I actually said that there will come a day when that populist demagogue will lose an election by a few votes and claim that he or she had won. votes and claim that he or she had won. And in the end of that quotation, Thomas Jefferson, I believe, said, that person will ride the storm and reap the whirlwind. That is about as precise a prophecy that I'm aware of in all of civilization.

The founding fathers feared most this moment and this man. And notwithstanding that, the Republican Party and many Republicans, citizens, frankly don't care. They will vote for Donald Trump. No matter what, those of good faith will vote for him because they prefer his policies

over those of the vice president. And I addressed that in this letter. And I said that the only issues of moment in this election And I said that the only President's policy positions and mine would vary greatly, I was unconcerned about any of her policy positions other than the fundamental policy positions on America's democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law. So let me just dive into that just a moment more. It's America's democracy and the Constitution and rule of law that are the stakes in this election.

And they are the stakes in this election for the first time in American history. They are the only stakes, Michael, because if we don't have our democracy in our constitution and the rule of law, all of which Donald Trump and now the Republican Party have betrayed, then we have nothing at all in America. And all the differences in policy views mean nothing whatsoever. And that's just the truth, okay? It's not the political truth. It is the truth about the United States of America. And, you know, I don't care about the Republican Party.

I don't care about the Democratic Party at this moment in history. There is only one party today and in this election who can claim the mantle of protector and defender of America's democracy, the Constitution, the rule of law and that is the Democratic Party and its nominee Kamala Harris. Yeah I think that sounds like it's been the motivating animating force in your letter is your belief that you need to put aside all of the policy, foreign policy, domestic policy disputes. The only thing that's important,

that's up for grabs is the very heart and soul of our democracy, its constitution, the rule of law. And I think that is now that I understand that in hearing you explain it, it's sort of for me, now I understand why each one of these sentences and paragraphs were so chosen and ordered the way that they were. The other thing we're missing, Judge, and we can kind of conclude on this in our two-party system and the importance

to a constitutional republic as a Supreme Court that sees things the way you see things about the right and the wrong of things and the constitutionality of things. And one of the problems here is we have a party, a movement, a leader in Trump who's been emboldened by the far right. As I've said it in prior hot takes, you've now got this alliance of Gorsuch, Alito, and Thomas who are, it's like a tug of war, right? They're pulling, they're trying to pull, the gravitational pull of them, all things that matter to them over to the far right. And they're sucking on occasion, Kavanaugh and Roberts over there.

And that's a problem because I would feel better about the voting if I knew I had a Supreme Court as the ultimate firewall of my beliefs. But many of our audience don't believe we've got a protectorate in the Supreme Court. Well, as you expect, would expect, I will be very careful. Um, but I will say this, as I've said publicly over and over during the past year, um, the Supreme Court of the United States decided two cases that were cases involving Donald Trump, the former

president of the United States. One was the disqualification clause case under the 14th amendment, and the other was the latter was the immunity's decision. Both of those decisions were palpably wrong. They were unsupported by the constitution and the laws of the United States in every single respect. Both of them, both decisions, of the United States in every single respect. Both of them, both decisions, and I've said this publicly, represented a betrayal

of the constitution of the United States and a betrayal of America for different reasons each, but both a betrayal. There's no question but that those two decisions had the effect, regardless of intention, they had the effect of admitting Donald Trump to run for election in November, and they had the effect of ensuring to the maximum extent possible that he would be elected by the American people in November.

Yeah, that's just observational. That's not opinion. I appreciate that. That is where we're at and thank you for kind of reinforcing that with us. Judge Ludig, conservative, forcing that with us. Judge Ludwig, conservative, federalist, constitutional scholar, and now an endorser of Kamala Harris for no other good reason than to protect our constitutional democracy, which is at stake and on the ballot in our form of government on November 5 in what you have said, and I agree wholeheartedly as does our audience, this is the most monumentous decision the American people had to make in hundreds of years about whether they stand for our form of government and the rule of law and our Constitutional Republic or they don't. And I can't think

of a better person to join us and speak to our audience. We try not to be an echo chamber. We try to bring in different voices as much as we can, because our audience demands it. They're thirsty and hungry for it. But you have consistently been somebody that our audience wants to hear from. And every time they do, we get the comments, the chats, we get the viewership that tells us that you are an important bearer of a torch, a flame of freedom, liberty, that with a voice that is unique and that they're not getting from other sources, even here on Midas Touch Network. And for that, I'm forever indebted to you that you're willing to come on with us on a regular basis and address our audience. Thank you, Michael. It really is my honor and I sincerely mean that.

We've reached the end of our interview with Judge Ludwig about his decision and how we got and made that decision and why to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris. Goes so much deeper than that, as you'll see, as you've heard in the interview. We appreciate Judge Ludwig being with us. Open door policy, whenever and wherever Judge Ludwig wants to be with us, we're there. And join us on our, we have two episodes of Minus Touch Legal AF, as people know, on Wednesdays

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I love this number, help us get the 4 million before the before 2025 is over here on the Midas Touch Network. Again, Michael Popock, joined today by Judge J. Michael Ludwig. And we'll see you my next hot take and my next Legal AF. Hear, hear, Legal AF Law Breakdown is now in session. Go beyond the headlines and get a deep dive into the important legal concepts you need to know and we discuss every day on Legal AF. Exclusive content you won't find anywhere else, all for the price of a couple of cups of coffee. Join us at patreon.com slash Legal AF. That's patreon.com slash Legal AF.