Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Justice Department STRIKES BACK at Trump’s Foot Soldiers

Episode Date: August 30, 2024

Well, that didn’t take long. Disgraced MAGA DOJ official Jeff Clark—Trump’s “acting attorney general” for the last days of the attempted coup, has argued that his bar license should not be suspended because he was dropped from the new criminal indictment of Trump in the DC election interference case, as he hits out against the Special Counsel. Michael Popok explains that Clark’s ethics violations at the heart of the DC Bar’s license suspension recommendation does not require that a crime be committed. Head to https://manukora.com/legalaf to receive $25 off your starter kit today! 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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If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please go to ConnixOntario.ca. This is Michael Popock, Legal AF. MAGA knows no boundaries. Jeff Clark knows no shame. He was a former lawyer in the Department of Justice. He was acting attorney general for about 30 minutes under Donald Trump and was the main henchman to try to use the Department of Justice to overthrow democracy by sending phony letters to different states in order to stop them from

certifying the election for Joe Biden, arguing that there was some sort of fraud that the Department of Justice was investigating when they weren't doing that at all. He's been removed from the superseding indictment, Jeff Clark, as unindicted co-conspirator number four. And now he's using that fact to try to argue to the DC, the District of Columbia disciplinary committee, that he should not lose his bar license. See, the DC grievance committee or disciplinary committee recommended in August, in a 200 page or more recommendation or report,

ultimately to the court system there, that Jeff Clark should lose his bar license He recommended in August, in a 200 page or more recommendation or report, ultimately to the court system there, that Jeff Clark should lose his bar license for what he did inside the White House to try to overthrow democracy, that it violated the rules of professional responsibility and conduct. But Jeff Clark is using the fact that Jack Smith had to remove him from the indictment because of the right-alt-right MAGA wing of the Supreme Court, 6-3 decision in July on immunity that basically said, you know those allegations about Jeff Clark and the original indictment in the D.C. election interference case? They got to go.

Because that looks like to us absolute immunity, core presidential communication between the president as a president, in this case Trump, and somebody in the Department of Justice gotta go. Alright, so Jack Smith smartly went to a grand jury that was already in paneled and said, I need a new superseding indictment please, and he removed from the superseding indictment references to co-conspirator number four, Jeff Clark. That doesn't mean Jeff Clark's out of the woods criminally, and it certainly doesn't mean that Jeff Clark is out of the woods for his bar license. Jeff Clark thinks so. He just wrote a new letter, apparently, according to reporting, to the D.C. grievance committee and ultimately to the

court that supervises people that have bar licenses in the District of Columbia and said, oh, here I am. I've been exonerated. They love using that term exonerated. They, to paraphrase Princess Bride, I don't think you know what that word means. I don't think you understand the meaning of that word. You weren't exonerated. It was a tactical decision by Jack Smith to remove you from the indictment criminally. Doesn't mean you're out of the woods for your violation of your oath and your bar duties, your bar and the rules of professional responsibility or conduct at all. Rudy, let me put it to you this way, Jeff Clark.

Rudy Giuliani lost his bar license in DC and in New York, not because he was criminally prosecuted or indicted or convicted, but because separate and apart from that he has an obligation short of crimes To the bar to the public to his to his oath of being a bar member To being an officer of the court the way I am To not do bad things and violate the rules of professional conduct and responsibility. That's why Rudy Giuliani lost his bar license

You know if you thought if you if Jeff Clark thinks that's why Rudy Giuliani lost his bar license. You know, if you thought, if Jeff Clark thinks that the only way a lawyer loses his bar license is because he commits crimes, I mean, that will lose your bar license, but there are many, many things you can do that are unethical that don't rise the level of a crime. And Jeff Clark doesn't seem to understand that. And so he, this letter, this missive that he sent in to try to argue, hooray, I've been exonerated.

I don't have to, I'm not going to be indicted. First of all, I'm not even sure that's true. There is still a grand jury out there. It has a name. It has a number, 23-8, 2023-8. It is hearing cases about Jan 6 and crime in there. Could Jack Smith come up with a creative way to go after and indict Jeff Clark and get around the immunity issue?

Yes. Why? Because presidential immunity right there in the name tells you what it is. It's an immunity enjoyed by somebody who used to be president. It doesn't generally extend to the henchmen that did his bidding, the people that allowed him and implemented his overthrow strategy. That's why all the president's men under Nixon, many of them went to jail. Haldeman, Dean, look it up. They could have alleged presidential immunity, but that wouldn't have worked because presidential immunity is unique and bespoke to the person who used to be the president. Now there's some stray cases here

and there that suggest that maybe it has to extend to the other side, almost like a privilege. But I don't think that's the majority view, even on this United States Supreme Court, although with the MAGA right wing and alt right being pulled by Gorsuch, Alito and Thomas, we'll see. It's a tug of war for the soul of that court that we're continuing to follow. But for Jeff Clark to have the brass ones, to have the cojones, to tell the DC bar back off because I just got dropped from the superseding indictment, it just shows you how shameless they are. This episode of Legal AF is brought to you

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Manakura is incredible and I'm so thankful they're a partner of the show. I look forward to Manakura every morning. Make sure you click the link in our description or head to manakura.com slash legal af and try some today. And to go after Jack Smith, here's Jeff Clark. By the way, just so you know, the guy, I may not have liked it, but even the Jan 6 committee recognized and the Supreme Court recognized that he was the acting attorney general for about 20 minutes. Jumping up from like six rows, six rungs down, he headed the environmental civil division. You had an environmental issue? Jeff Clark was your guy. Justice? Constitutional analysis? Head of the Department of Justice? Probably not the right person. But in any event, he's already lashed out at Jack

Smith in his social media posting. He said in a lengthy post on Twitter, the whole device of setting up a dedicated prosecutor and making them go after singular targets is unconstitutional. Again, challenging like Aileen Cannon, who is the only person in the history of the federal judiciary and federal practice to ever find that a special prosecutor or independent counsel is illegitimate,

other than Clarence Thomas in a dissent. Now, Jeff Clark, of course, this is the MAGA talking points, right? Special counsel shouldn't exist. They didn't, I didn't hear any complaints from Jeff Clark when Robert Herr, the special counsel appointed by Merrick Garland to go after Joe Biden for classified documents issued his 300 page report.

That wasn't that flattering on Joe on, uh, on Joe Biden. Where was he for that? I didn't hear Jeff Clark complain when Ken star went after white, you know, in the whitewater investigation of Monica Lewinsky went after the Clintons. Where was he on that? You know, I don't hear him complaining about the special council that's going after Hunter Biden. Oh, but, but if, if a special, so to take him to his logical conclusion, right now the special counsel going after Hunter Biden should be dismissed because it's a dedicated

prosecutor going after a singular target and it's unconstitutional. No judge, not even, and not the Supreme Court believes that, just to show you where Clark's head is at, right, in all of this. He also said he has to, everybody on the MAGA side has to bring up Butler, Pennsylvania, whatever happened to Donald Trump there with, you know, people were shot in Butler, Pennsylvania and died. It just wasn't Donald Trump, I don't think. I mean, I know people that had bad ear piercings that had more aftercare than whatever happened to Donald Trump, but they love that photo and the fight, fight, fight.

And here's what Jeff Clark said, just so you know where his head's at. In a saner age attacking Jack Smith, he said, after the failed assassination attempt on Trump, an ordinary prosecutor thinking about the national interest might say to him or herself, "'Let me drop this hyper-political case and help the nation heal. Such a targeted counsel is incentivized by the very design of his office to keep going after the target

until the target or the prosecutor is no more. Again, I didn't hear Jeff Clark complain about the special prosecutor John Durham who was appointed by Bill Barr to go look at whether the Justice Department had been weaponized or not during the Mueller investigation or otherwise. I didn't hear him complain about the Mueller investigation. They must think that we don't have access to the internet, to prior social media posts, to video or audio, right? This is some sort of apocalyptic movie

where all history has been destroyed and we don't have access to it. We have the receipts, Jeff Clark. So here's what I think is gonna happen. The DC bar, consistent with its precedent of disbarring Rudy Giuliani, is gonna tell Jeff Clark to go pound sand. That the fact that he's no longer indicted at the present

does not change the analysis of whether he violated the bar rules of his particular jurisdiction. Ethical violations are not the same thing as crimes. I mean, every crime will get you disbarred or suspended, yes, but not every ethical violation that will also get you reprimanded, suspended or censured is a crime. And that fundamental misapprehension of the ethics law is at the heart of everything Jeff Clark is doing.

We'll continue to follow what happens next for Jeff Clark as he fights to keep his law license, probably unsuccessfully, right here on the Midas Touch Network and on legal AF. See that? It's a show we do on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Eastern time. We curate the top three or four stories at the intersection of law and politics. We bring it to you right here, unfiltered, unhinged, unplugged on everything. No censorship. And we're building this network with your help. Congratulations to all of you for helping Midas Touch

get to 3 million free subscribers well before our target date of the election day. It shows you how important people think the network is and their involvement with the network. And we thank you from the bottom of our heart. So until my next hot take, till my next Legal AF, this is Michael Popak reporting. Heary, heary, Legal AF Law this is Michael Popak reporting.