Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Judge Takes Emergency Action Against Trump Over the Files

Episode Date: December 12, 2025

In a scathing new order, a NY Federal Judge has called out the Trump DOJ for failing to properly protect innocent victims and survivors of the Epstein child sex trafficking ring covered up by Trump, and has made sure that the innocent victims will be protected as he ordered the public release of ALL of the Ghislaine Maxwell trial documents and exhibits and grand jury material. Michael Popok explains that the letters from the victims to the Judge were a powerful message and led him to now hold one person in the DOJ responsible for making sure victim’s privacy is not compromised with the new release, and the judge taking time to remind the world what a heinous criminal Maxwell is. Miracle Made: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to https://TryMiracle.com/legalaf and use the code LEGLAF to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF. Visit https://meidasplus.com for more! 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

This episode is brought to you by Square. You're not just running a restaurant, you're building something big. And Square's there for all of it. Giving your customers more ways to order, whether that's in-person with Square kiosk or online. Instant access to your sales, plus the funding you need to go even bigger. And real-time insights so you know what's working, what's not, and what's next. Because when you're doing big things, your tools should to. Visit square.ca to get started.

No, at least one federal judge is not going to take the Department of Justice at its word, that it's going to protect the rights of the Epstein survivors and victims in releasing new documents and information about the child sex trafficking ring that he participated in and that Donald Trump has been busy covering up ever since. Judge Engelmeyer in New York has just issued a new order, an opinion in order, in which he's going to allow the grand jury transcripts from the Galane Maxwell, indictment and prosecution to be released to the public and dozens of categories of other documents that we call Discovery, which was the documents that were used in her prosecution that led to

her conviction on five felony counts of child sex trafficking and her sentence and her being sentenced to almost 20 years in prison, those documents, the discovery, are now going to be part of the public domain. But Judge Engelmeyer is not trusting the Department of Justice to protect the survivors and the victims. He set up a mechanism to make sure they are protected. He's put the U.S. attorney in New York, Southern District, Jay Clayton, to take personal responsibility to ensure that the survivors and victims' identities are protected, and then he takes a certain amount of time to excoriate in his order the Trump administration for failing to protect them in the past. I'm Michael Popak. You're on legal a. F. and I might as touch.

Let's get to it. Take a minute. Hit the free subscribe button on the Legal AF YouTube channel while you're at it. Paul Engelmeyer took over the case from Judge Nathan after she was elevated

to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. He presides over all things Galane Maxwell in New York. Now, over the summer, the Trump administration before the act was passed into law by Congress, tried to get the same materials,

released the grand jury transcripts released from Judge Berman presiding over the Epstein indictment and criminal case and Judge Engelmeyer who took over in the Maxwell case. And they were denied at the time along with the judge in Florida because under the federal rules of criminal procedure Rule 6E, there are limited grounds to release confidential grand jury materials and there was a protective order that was in place by Judge Nathan to protect having the discovery of the documents or information used in these trials, at least

for Maxwell out in the public. But the world changed after the Epstein Transparency Act was signed into law. Now a congressional law that effectively overrides Rule 6E that governs secrecy of the grand jury and compels that the information that was gathered by and about to be used by the government and the discovery, that that be now made available to the public. But you still have as gatekeepers judges like Judge Engelmire to make sure the process doesn't harm the innocent, doesn't harm the victims or victimize the survivors all over again. And Judge Engelmeier, who's now the second judge in the last week, Judge Rodney Smith, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has also, because of the law now being put into place,

has ordered that things related to Epstein's investigation in 2006 and 2007, down in the Southern District of Florida, also be made of. available. Clock is ticking down there as well. Next up, Judge Engelmeier. And here's what he says after acknowledging that the court has received a series of letters written by lawyers representing a consortium of victims. They're all on the public docket who expressed a lot of concern by the way the Department of Justice has been handling the case and throwing their names around and how names have gotten released and leaked, even when the oversight committee, including Democrats, in the house, release certain of the emails and information.

This is different than the group that has decided to out themselves, like Annie Farmer, like Lisa Phillips, and others who have taken to Capitol Hill to have their nightmare exposed to reclaim their life and their dignity. There's also another group, hundreds of victims who have not come forward and do not want to come forward at the present time and don't want to be outed by the disclosure of this information. That's the group we're talking about that needs protection. Here's what the judge gets around to saying on page 19 over to 20. It says in page 19, in moving to modify the protective order that was put in place by Judge Nathan to cover the

discovery information, the bigger volume of documents than just the grand jury information. The Department of Justice has stated that it will work with the relevant U.S. attorneys' office to make appropriate redactions of victim-related and other personal identifying information. The victims of Epstein and Maxwell, who have written the court, are largely supportive of the Act's command that DOJ's investigative records relating to Epstein and Maxwell's crimes be made public. But they have voiced concerned that their identities and privacy will be compromised. The victims, therefore, seek the court's assurance in ensuring that their names and identifying information are protected. from public disclosure and that there be a reliable mechanism for this.

Therefore, the court says, I'm going to impose a reliable mechanism. But then chastises the Department of Justice under Donald Trump. On page 20, the victim's concerns regrettably have a basis in fact. In its two rounds of applications to this court to disclose records, DOJ, although paying lip service to Maxwell's and Epstein's victims, have not treated them with a solicitude they deserve. deserve. DOJ made its July 18th motion to unseal the grand jury materials without giving notice to Maxwell and Epstein's victims, only after this court and Judge Berman in Epstein's case

inquired as to the point on their own and set a schedule for victims' input on the motion. Did the victims get notice? The letters the court thereupon received from victims widely expressed distress at the lack of notice given to them. by the DOJ, an alarm that the grand jury records DOJ would release, if authorized, would invade their privacy. And Judge Engelmeyer continues, as the court chronicled in denying the motion, the motion itself misled the victims and the public at large in holding out the Maxwell grand jury materials as essential to the goal of transparency when, in fact, the grand jury materials would not add to public knowledge. As the court put in

its denial of the motion, a member of the public familiar with Maxwell trial record who reviewed the grand jury materials that the government proposed to unseal would thus learn next to nothing new. The materials do not identify any person other than Epstein and Maxwell as having sexual contact with a minor. That includes Maxwell folks. They do not reveal any heretofore unknown means or methods of the crimes. They do not reveal the path of the government's investigation. And he can speak to this from his purchase of federal judge because he reviewed the grand jury transcripts. So he is not buying anything the Department of Justice is selling.

Ever wake up sweating, freezing, or just plain uncomfortable. The temperature in your bedroom can make or break your sleep. That's why I switch to miracle-made sheets. They're inspired by NASA technology and use silver-infused temperature-regulating, fabric to help you sleep perfectly all night long. With Miracle Made, you'll sleep at the perfect temperature. Whether you run hot or cold, these sheets keep you in the comfort zone from the moment you crawl in to the moment you wake up. And here's what I love. They stay cleaner longer. Thanks to their

antibacterial silver technology miracle made sheets, stay fresh up to three times longer than regular sheets, meaning fewer odors, fewer wash, cycles and way less laundry. They're luxuriously comfortable, too, smooth, breathable, and soft like what you'd find in a five-star hotel, but without the luxury price tag. So upgrade your sleep or give the gift of better rest. Go to try miracle.com slash legal a.F to try miracle made sheets today. You'll save over 40%. And when you use promo code legal AF, you'll get an extra 20% off, plus a free three-piece towel set. They make an amazing. amazing gift. And with a 30-day money-back guarantee, there's no risk. That's try miracle.com

slash legal a.f. Code legal a.f at checkout. Thanks to Miracle Made for sponsoring this episode. Instead, he has appointed and anointed the U.S. Attorney for the District, Jay Clayton, who is the acting interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, but reasonably well considered, to be the one to certify that the victim's names have been redacted in all identifying information. He says on page 21, Judge Engelmeyer, the United States Attorney for this district is the right person to make such a certification. He signed the motion, seeking the modification. He heads the office and led the successful investigation and prosecution of Maxwell. And that office has amassed the discovery in this case. And this court has great confidence

that the professionals in the United States Attorney's Office will ably discharge this important and urgent duty. In light of the above, he then modified his order. So we are now with two judges, and I'm sure Judge Berman will do the same thing, one step closer as part of the quote-unquote Epstein files, not just to get the terabyte of information and hundreds of thousands of pages that are in the hands of the executive branch and have always been in the hands of the executive branch and have never needed a court order or a congressional bill to release. We'll get that. We'll get whatever was compiled to try the Galane Maxwell case that will come out into the public and we will get I'm sure whatever was used down in Florida for these two matters and also in

the Judge Berman in the Epstein matter as well. This will be addendums to bolted onto the pile of Epstein files that will be released. One little side note. There has always been a person that's known what's in these files. The one who tried the case and prosecuted successfully, Galane Maxwell and got her convicted of the five felony counts. That's James Comey's daughter, Maureen Comey, but she was fired about two months ago from her role before, and on purpose, I'm sure, before Donald Trump's Todd Blanche, the number two in the Department of Justice, met with Galane Maxwell with an immunity deal because he didn't want Maureen Comey sitting next to him telling him, telling him, that Galane Maxwell was a liar, and here's the documents to prove it.

He wanted to go in clean, Barry's head in the sand, have amnesia, and just listen to Galane Maxwell bullshit. Now we're getting the files of the documents out here. And at the top of the order that the Judge Engelmeyer just issued, he makes sure to also recount for the public record the dastardly conduct of Galane Maxwell and how she came to be convicted. because in case people forget, this is on page two. The highlights, June 29, 2020, a grand jury indicted Maxwell on charges arising from

her facilitation of and participation in, a scheme by the notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein to abuse multiple minor girls. Maxwell's jury trial was in November 2021. It entailed testimony from four women who described the sexual abuse they suffered as girls at the hands of Epstein and Maxwell, testimony of individuals who had worked for them, testimony of law enforcement, and evidence, including Epstein and Maxwell's Black Book, flight logs, FedEx records, and the like. The trial ended December 2021, with Maxwell's conviction of five felony counts, and he spells them out in case you forgot. Conspiracy to entice

minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts. Conspiracy. to transport minors with intent to engage in illegal sex acts. Transportation of a minor with intent to engage in illegal sex acts. Participation in a sex trafficking conspiracy and sex trafficking of a minor. And then on June 28th, the Honorable Allison Nathan sentenced Maxwell to 240 months in prison. She appealed. The appeal was denied. Her conviction was affirmed by the second circuit.

in 2024. The Second Circuit denied her right to a rehearing. And on October 6, 2025, the United States Supreme Court denied her petition for appeal. That's it, folks. You can hear about all sorts of rits of habeas corpus by Galane Maxwell, try to get out of jail in Texas that she's going apparently do by herself as a jailhouse lawyer. But she was convicted and rightly so for the disgusting and immoral and illegal conduct of child sex trafficking. And now we are going to be able to see all the documents with the survivors and the victims who are supportive of these documents coming out, being properly protected by Judge Engelmeyer and the other judges to make sure their names are not disclosed and other identifying personal information. And if it is, so help Jay Clayton, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, because he alone is now liable and responsible for this conduct. I'll continue to follow it all right here on Midas Touch and Legal A.F. on Michael.

Popak. Can't get your fill of legal A.F. Me neither. That's why we formed the legal AF substack. 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. We got interviews. We got add free versions of the podcast and hot takes wear legal a f on substack come over now to free subscribe