Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Judge Makes Major Ruling on Trump’s Past He Feared
Episode Date: August 22, 2025In breaking news, Trump is 0-3 trying to convince Federal Judges to bail him out and mislead the public into thinking the sealed, secret skimpy Epstein and Maxwell grand jury files are the “Epstein ...Files” as Judge Berman points the finger back at Trump and his own DOJ to release the files. Michael Popok looks at all 3 orders and how each judge made sure the victims were protected and heard from, before telling Trump to “release the damn files.” Ethos: Get your FREE quote at https://ethos.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 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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In breaking news, yet another federal judge, make that three,
who are telling Donald Trump and his Department of Justice
release the damn files in the Epstein matter.
Berman, Richard Berman, judge in New York,
on the heels of Judge Engelmeyer,
on the heels of Judge Rothenberg,
has said that the Trump administration has failed to meet its burden
to show that the quote-unquote grand jury transcripts,
which are pretty scant and slim pickings to begin with,
should be released in the interest of public interest.
Or to paraphrase, Judge Berman,
you're sitting on the treasure trove of information.
You're sitting on the 10,000 pages of documents.
You're in the best position to release it to the public.
Stop barking up the tree of federal judges.
Very similar to what Judge Engelmeyer ruled last week
and his rulings about the Galane Maxwell transcripts.
Judge Berman is all about the Epstein prosecution,
because he was the presiding judge.
You're on legal AF and on the Midas Touch Network,
let's get to the breaking news part,
the part that I love when I get to read from orders
where Donald Trump has lost.
How did we get here?
We got here because Donald Trump promised the American people
during the campaign,
and certainly after his presidency started,
that he would release the Epstein files in their entirety.
That's what he said.
That's what Pam Bondi said.
That's what Cash Patel, the FBI director, said in writing
including in February.
They would release it all.
No stone would go unturned.
No document would be except to protect the victims
would be held back.
And what are they done?
Holding back documents, all of them,
not releasing anything.
And hoping the American people wouldn't notice
when they issued a two-page memo,
close-out memo, which did everything
except close this out, to say,
there's nothing to see here.
There's no Epstein client list
and he died in jail by hanging.
He committed suicide.
Are we okay now?
No, no, we're not okay now.
And the more that Donald Trump and his administration
have tried to fix the problem and cover up the crimes,
the more the relationship between Donald Trump
and his two best friends,
Galane Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein,
and their child sex trafficking,
their raping of girls came to the forefront.
And why is Donald Trump protecting his former best friends?
Why isn't he just releasing everything?
thing. And then they ran and did the, let's hope Congress can bail us out. Maybe the oversight
committee will order us to turn over the documents. Maybe that'll get the public on our side and
that hasn't worked. Although the oversight committee is now in the last 24 hours said, we've got
some docs. We got them from the Department of Justice. We're going to be releasing them. We're
not going to tell you what they are. They're not going to be edited. They're not going to be
complete. But we got some. Okay. Then then the Trump technique, besides trying to convince everybody,
it's a hoax, to which 1,000 sex crimes victims have declared in unison,
we are not a hoax when that didn't work.
And J.D. Vance going on Sunday morning talk shows blaming Biden didn't work.
They then turned to, why don't we interview Galane Maxwell and give her immunity?
But they effed that up, too.
Because it's bad enough you gave her immunity.
She's a convicted child sex trafficker.
convicted of sexual abuse, of women and girls.
She's serving a 20-year prison sentence,
and you're doing business with her as an administration?
How low have you sunk that you need a convicted child sex trafficker
to vouch for your credibility?
Donald Trump, pretty low.
And they even screwed that up,
because then all the deal parts came out.
She gets to go and live in a low security prison camp,
you know, basically a Beverly Hill.
prison case she gets to do that she's got immunity blah blah and then they said well we better have a
meeting a secret meeting at the white house so everybody knew about the secret meeting in the white
house we reported on it and there they discussed what should Todd blanche do with the interview he took
should he release it should he edit it should he have a press conference should he go on joe rogan
i'm not making this up that's all true and so we're still tick tick tick tick tick tick
still no galane maxwell interview been released so now we've got to
got the original three judges that Donald Trump went to, Rothenberg in Florida, Engelmeier in
New York, and now Berman in New York, asking them to release under a rule that doesn't really allow
the release of grand jury transcripts for a very good reason. We're trying to protect the innocent.
We're trying to protect witnesses. We're trying to protect people. We're trying to protect
grand jurors. We're trying to protect or make sure that people who would be indicted aren't going to
escape. It's very good reasons under Rule 6E of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.
And here's what Berman had to say, my favorite part, you know, when I read from these things.
But again, he's, whatever he's saying is very similar to what Engelmeyer said last week in his.
But let me just read to you from the pages that I thought were very, very interesting, having found that they have not made out their burden, that they concede that they can't meet any of the narrow exceptions in Rule 6.E.
they're left with the special circumstances judge and the judge says you're not you're not making
out your special circumstances at all either. Here's what he says on page six. The significant and
compelling reason to reject the government's position in this litigation is that the government
has already undertaken a comprehensive investigation into the Epstein case and not surprisingly
has assembled a quote unquote trove of Epstein documents. That's Pam Bondi's words. Interviews
and exhibits, and the government committed that it would share its Epstein investigation materials
with the public. Here it comes the release the damn files part of the order.
The department remains committed to transparency and intends to release the remaining
Epstein files. February 27, 2025 press release. The government's 100,000 pages of Epstein files
and materials. Dwarf, here's the judge again, page seven, the 70-odd pages of Epstein grand jury
materials. I mean, I wasn't a math major, about a thousand to 100,000 pages over here with the Trump
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This is, again, refuting Donald Trump's attempt to try to recast the Epstein files as being
the grand jury transcripts.
The government's Epstein files, Judge, the judge continues, are not sui generis.
they are investigatory and not subject to federal rule of criminal procedure 6E.
The government is the logical party, the judge continues,
to make comprehensive disclosure to the public of the Epstein files.
And then he drops a footnote just from yesterday, right?
This is how, or from two days ago.
The House Committee on, this is footnote 6.
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer,
Republican Kentucky.
I love he puts that Republican Kentucky.
there has recently stated that the U.S. Department of Justice informed the committee
it will begin providing Epstein-related records this week.
That's where you should look, release the damn files.
The grand jury, let's see, in February 2025, the government, as noted, was prepared to release
the Epstein files.
Then on July 6, 2025, the government announced it would not make the files public.
Quote, it is the determination of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of
investigation that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted. That's from now July 6,
2025, the DOJ and FBI memo. There is another compelling reason, the judge says, not to unseal
the Epstein grand jury materials, as this, namely possible threats to victim safety and privacy.
The court received a very compelling letter on August 5th from the three leading victims' rights
attorneys who have stated, quote, any disclosure of grand jury material.
a special material that could expose or help identify victims in any way directly affects their fairness, privacy, conferral, and protection guarantees.
These attorneys represent numerous survivors of Jeffrey Epstein, including several individuals whose names and identifying information appear in the subject materials.
Whether victims do or do not favor unsealing, it is imperative that victims have adequate notice of unsealing and adequate time to respond in advance of disclosure.
But the judge says victims did not have sufficient knowledge.
notice before the government filed the instant motions, and therefore that is yet another reason
citing two letters provided to him by the victims. Victims are always being forgotten here by
the Trump side of the equation. He calls them hoax. He says there's nothing to see here as if child
sex trafficking and pedophilia is run of the mill for Donald Trump, especially when it's committed
by his best friends that he's currently covering up for. Signed in conclusion for the reasons stated
above on page 14 of his order, including the analysis that he did, the motion to unseal the
grand jury transcripts, and the exhibits in United States v. Epstein are respectfully denied.
Richard M. Berman, United States District Judge. What happens next? It just with our help
continues to put pressure on the Trump administration. I mean, we're drilling down on this on a daily
basis, to force them to release the files. Now they're currently trying to use as a pawn
the oversight committee.
And the Democrats on that committee
are putting a major pressure on there.
But trying to, well, we wanted to release them,
but the committee didn't release them.
That's not the committee to release.
As this judge, Berman, just reminded
the Trump administration and the public.
It is the Trump administration
that is sitting on the treasure trove.
It is the Trump administration
that has the key in their pocket
to unlock the door and release the Epstein
files to the public that they claim
they were going to do in February
until they reversed course in July.
And we need judges like Judge Engelmeyer and Judge Berman and Judge and Judge Rothenberg to join together and say once and for all, release the damn files Trump administration, don't bark up our tree, don't look for us to bail you out. And there's not much in the grand jury proceedings anyway. That's why he said it's 70 pages. There were two total witnesses, two total between two grand jury proceedings, one for Maxwell and one for Epstein and New York. Two witnesses. One. One.
one overlapped. There was, and they were law enforcement witnesses doing summary testimony.
There were no victims who testified. There was no testimony about anybody other than Epstein
and Galane Maxwell. It was done for the purposes of obtaining an indictment. Not an investigation.
So there's no there. That was Donald Trump's major distractor. Hey, look over here. You think the
Epstein files is that treasure trove, that mine, that mine field, that load, mine load, load mine,
there it is, of materials that were sitting on.
It's the 70 pages of the grand jury.
Judges, look to the judges.
Nobody fell for that.
It actually backfired spectacularly in Donald Trump's face, as it should.
What is the Epstein scandal show about the Trump administration?
I'll end it this way.
It shows, reinforces anyway, the immorality, the depravity, the lack of ethics,
the lack of trust that we can repose in this president of the United States,
whose character demonstrates every moment
that he is lawless, that he is unethical,
that he is immoral.
That's all this demonstrates.
And he should have already disqualified himself
from sitting in the Oval Office.
And hopefully at the midterm election,
we will send that message right back to him.
I'm Michael Popok.
You're on the Midas Touch Network in LegalAF.
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