Legal AF by MeidasTouch - LIVE: Trump CRIPPLED by WAR and COURT LOSSES!!! | Legal AF

Episode Date: April 19, 2026

On today’s episode of Legal AF, Ben Meiselas takes the lead while Michael Popok is on a brief break—though he’ll be back next week. Ben breaks down how Donald Trump’s pattern of deception, from his handling of the war in Iran to his rhetoric at home, continues to collide with reality—especially in the courtroom, where rules of evidence and procedure can’t be spun. He explains how Trump’s “firehose of lies” may play to friendly media audiences but is failing to produce real-world results, both abroad and domestically. Ben also covers Trump’s latest legal setback, where a judge not only rejected his claims about needing a ballroom for national security purposes but openly mocked the argument. In addition, the episode examines Trump’s attempt to pursue a $10 billion claim against his own government over an alleged tax data breach, along with key developments unfolding on Capitol Hill this week. All that and more on today’s episode of Legal AF. Support our Sponsors: Bull Shot: Text LEGAL20 to 64000 for up to 20% off plus free shipping. Message and data rates may apply. Dose: Save 35% on your first month of subscription by going to https://dosedaily.co/LEGALAF or entering LEGALAF at checkout. Magic Spoon: Save $5 OFF your next order when you go to ⁠http://magicspoon.com/LEGALAF⁠ Veracity: For up to 65% off your order, head to https://VeracityHealth.co and use promo code: LEGALAF Become a member of Legal AF YouTube community: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgZJZZbnLFPr5GJdCuIwpA/join Learn more about the Popok Firm: https://thepopokfirm.com Subscribe to Legal AF Substack: https://michaelpopok.substack.com/subscribe?coupon=c0fc8f5c 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 The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show The Ken Harbaugh Show: https://meidasnews.com/tag/the-ken-harbaugh-show Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 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

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We're going to cover what's going on on Capitol Hill. There was also the architect of Project 2025 in the Office of Management and Budget Director, Russ Vote, testified about a lot of the actions that we believe were criminal in nature from the Trump regime. You'll see as he got cross-examined, his responses was the first time he testified before the Budget Committee since he was once again named the Office of Managed Budget Director during Trump's term. We'll talk about that. Donald Trump was ranting and raving like a lunatic as a federal judge in Washington, D.C., yet again, blocked the construction of Trump's ballroom. If you say, hey, this is deja vu, didn't you previously report about the ballroom being blocked by a federal judge? Well, yes, indeed, that happened two weeks ago a federal judge blocked it.

And then Donald Trump claimed, well, the entire ballroom structure itself is a matter of national security. my life is at risk if I don't build this ballroom in the East Wing because it's protecting me from ballistic missiles and drones. And so, Judge, this is a national security threat. Then the Circuit Court of Appeals based on Donald Trump's claim that his life is in peril if the ballroom isn't get built, remanded the case back to the district court judge to clarify the prior order. And the district court said, yeah, look, if you want to build a bunker underneath, then you're saying that's national security, fine, and do that. But the ballroom's not a national. security threat. It's not imperiling Donald Trump's life if the ballroom isn't built.

We'll talk about that order. We'll talk about Donald Trump's reaction to the court order, clarifying and further blocking the construction of the ballroom. Talk about former Attorney General Pam Bondi still in hiding right now. Democrats sent a scathing letter to the chair of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, saying, we know that Pam Bondi is hiding right now from having her deposition taken. We previously, subpoenaed her on a bipartisan basis a month ago or so and she was supposed to show up April 14th she's now refusing to show up claiming she's no longer the attorney general doesn't matter whether she's the attorney general or not she was involved in the cover-up of the Epstein file she needs to testify

before us so the Trump regime's cover-up of the Epstein files of course continues also we saw a filing by Donald Trump in a federal court in Florida involving a case where Trump sued the government while Trump was the president for $10 billion saying that there was a data breach regarding lots of people's tax returns, thousands, hundreds of thousands of people's tax returns were breached many, many, many years ago by an employee or contractor at the IRS. And you may have been involved in the data breach as well. Trump says that he was one of the people involved in this data breach. And as a result, he should be paid $10 billion by the federal government.

And a filing was made, which indicates that Trump and his own government are involved collectively in settlement talks to pay Donald Trump $10 billion of your taxpayer dollars. So while the American people can't afford things, can't afford rent, can't afford cars, can't afford groceries or gas. And as the war in Iran appears to be escalating again with more lies from Donald Trump on Friday, that a deal was made. You should know that health care is being ripped away from you and all these things are being taken away so that Donald Trump can settle with himself for $10 billion of your taxpayer money, which he claims. He's going to put it to good use, though. He says, don't you worry. Just trust me, trust me. I'm going to put it to good use. We're going to cover this and more in this episode of Legal A.F. I'm Ben Mysellis. We've got a lot to cover today. So I want to get right

into it. And I just think from the outset, one of the reasons that we talk about Donald Trump's behavior, whether it's in the context of the 25th Amendment and his cognitive and physical rapid deterioration before our eyes, whether we talk about his malignant narcissism or his constant lying. I mean, literally every word out of his mouth is a hose of lies just spewing over and over and over again. It is something that he's. He's done his entire life. I mean, he's been found criminally liable for fraud. He's been found civilly liable for fraud.

He's bankrupted so many companies over and over and over again. And this is just who he's been his entire life. And then, you know, he tries to get bailouts by threatening and using all of these tactics, of fraud and deceit and he gets bailed out and he leaves a trail of bankruptcies and horror and destruction. He's never a deal maker. always a destroyer. He's not a negotiator. I mean, he's someone who just goes in there and tries to dominate and enforce his will. If you stand up to him, he's a coward. He backs down

and he's a loser. But lots of people, whether it's because of the yelling or whatever the behavior is, sometimes people just give in or just the relentless nature of his lies. People give in sometimes. And that's his whole MO. And I think that we see this play out. right now in this unlawful and catastrophic war in Iran. This is the intersection of law and politics. And seeing that intersection also play out internationally is worth noting at the beginning of this episode because one of the reasons also legal A.F started, why the Midas Touch Network in general started,

is because corporate news was not meeting the moment. In fact, they were failing miserably, acting as propaganda machines for Donald Trump and authoritarian. or stenographers for Donald Trump's fraud and deceit where he could launder his lies through the press and because they want to do both sides coverage. Here's what he says. Here's what the other side says. They present the issue as though there are two sides to the story rather than using what they should be doing as journalists, a moral compass and a compass directed towards truth and calling out the lies. And we saw this play out so much on Friday, where

Donald Trump claimed that there was yet again, like he did the same schick again. There's a deal with Iran. The Strait of Hermuz is open. Iran has agreed that it will stop funding any of its proxy groups, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Shiite militia groups in Iraq. They will not be funded. In fact, Iran has agreed that American military and Iranian military will be working together very closely, and they together will be excavating Iran's nuclear sites to take out any of the nuclear dust or uranium and to bring it back Iran has agreed the United States will be able to keep the uranium in the United States the strait of her moves is fully open all ships can access it it's great Iran has agreed to

everything they've apologized they fully surrendered so on Friday Donald Trump calls up Fox Reuters News Nation CBS NBC NBC ABC ABC ABC and And he just starts spewing that over and over and over again. And those reporters would post on social media and on their news sites, Donald Trump says, right, which we know should always then be immediately followed by. Donald Trump says, however, he lies about everything or just don't publish it. But I'll give you an example. Kelly Meyer over at News Nation, she said the following.

And this, I could show you 20 reporters who did this, but I'm just going to share hers with you. right here. I just spoke with President Trump on the phone from Las Vegas, and I asked him about the stream of truth social posts he has been shared. I got right to the point. I asked the president, if Iran agreed to stop enriching uranium. Yes, he told me. They agreed to stop enriching uranium. They agreed to everything, he told me. Yes, you are surprised, I asked. Are you surprised? I'm not surprised by anything. I'll see you later, and the call ended. Then he told CBS that all of of the nuclear materials being transferred to the United States. The straight of Hormuz is fully open.

And what we've been reporting here on the Midas Touch Network is totally false. Let's look at the actual data of what's happening. Let's look at the ship tracking data. Are ships leaving the straight of Hormuz? Is Iran actually saying these things? Who's in control? What's actually happening? And no, the ships were not leaving these straight of Hormuz.

moves, Iran still controlled it. The Iranian statements were that they will allow certain ships to go through a coordinated route that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps controls, which is right through the coast of Iran. And if you deviate from that route, you will be attacked or shot out or stopped. But Iran says they'll be charging a toll. They said that they're in control. They're not giving up uranium, that they still have their ballistic missiles and drones. So you hear two different sides of the story. Okay. And I'm not suggesting that we should believe that Iran are a bunch of truth tellers. I will tell you that Donald Trump's a complete liar. And I will tell you that Iran definitely lies a lot as well. I just want to use the objective data to say, okay, well, and by the way, I think even

Iran stated, you know, that in a social media post by M.B. Ghalibov, their parliament leader, that during war, oftentimes the parties will engage in mass. of propaganda campaigns as part of a psychological weapon of warfare. But I'm focused on what's actually happening on the ground, what's happening in the Strait of Hormuz. And I could look at it. It's not open. I can say, wait a minute, you're sending American military to meet with Iranian military to excavate nuclear sites. That ain't happening. Iran has agreed that it's no longer going to be allied with Hezbollah. No, that ain't happening. Donald Trump says, you know, the ceasefire in Lebanon's going well. I mean, I see Israel striking targets in Lebanon, in

Beirut. I see Hezbollah striking back. I mean, I see, I'm like, what are you talking about? I mean, it seems like everything is false. And then this morning, we learned on Saturday morning, Iran said, because of Donald Trump's conduct and misrepresenting the negotiations, Trump's continued escalation during a period of negotiations, the continuation of the in the Persian Gulf. Iran is saying, we are going to not even allow any ships to go through the straight of her moves at all, not even in the coordinated, limited way. We're fully shutting it down. We don't want to have further communications with Trump because all he does is lie about everything. And again, Donald Trump's behavior here is exactly the opposite of what you should do in

negotiations. I'm a law professor when I'm not on the Midas touch network and I teach negotiations. Now, if you are to engage in good faith negotiations, there has to be a give and take from both sides. You can't use negotiations as an act of dominance to destroy. That's not the purpose of negotiations. At the very least, you have to recognize that the other side exists. I mean, that's a threshold matter. And you can keep on saying one thing this day, the next day, another thing, the next day, another

thing, that negotiations will always fail if that's a threshold matter. the case and you have to understand what's driving the other side in a negotiation and Donald Trump continuing to use negotiation as a way to try to extract things that he wasn't able to achieve in a war where Iran was able to stop all of the you know, Trump regime claims of regime change in Iran and that we're going to do total obliteration of all of these things. Trump's trying to use negotiation as chicanery, trickery, fraud and Iran's not dumb. they know what he's doing. And so it just makes the ability to reach a resolution that much more difficult.

Trump agreed to a 10-point framework. And then ultimately, Donald Trump didn't try to change up the framework during the negotiations. And why am I bringing this up at the outset of legal AF is because as we look to other ways that Donald Trump approaches every aspect in law, it's always a lie. Everything that he does is a lie, is a fraud. and he's always just figuring out some way that he ultimately benefits himself. When we talk about the ballroom on this episode, as authoritarians often do, Donald Trump sees himself and national security as the same thing, that our nation cares so much about him that we want

a ballroom because that makes him feel that, you know, he's alive because this ballroom is the greatest thing in existence for his life and that the ballroom is a national security, you know, the fact that he could even make that argument, you know, to me is kind of a cousin of the argument that the straight of Hormuz is open. When it's not, it's like, what are you talking about? The ballroom is a national security threat if we don't build it because it's going to protect you from drones and ballistic missiles. Like, just stop treating us like we're stupid. I just want to get out the truth and I want to get out the facts. When I show you in this episode, the testimony of RFK Jr., who says Donald Trump is the most sane person I've ever met when he was

being cross-examined on the 25th Amendment. When I show you Russ Vote being cross-examined and Russ Vote saying that he doesn't know how much money has been spent in the war and around. He can't even venture a guess when that's quite literally his job. It's like they constantly think we're stupid in everything. and the legal structures that we have in the United States and international law should be to hold people accountable. And we should stop living in Donald Trump's reality, fake reality,

where he bends reality to this fictitious, dystopian world of hell. And we need to bring things back to the real world and behave like adults and call out the lies and the fraud and the deceit. I want to show you here at the outset. what the deputy foreign minister of Iran said earlier this morning, it is, of course, you know, translated into English. And so there's AI English translation of what he said when you hear it. But here's what he says about like Trump says one thing this day

and the next thing, another day. He just needs to talk less. Here, play this clip. Trying to sabotage the path of the diplomatic efforts through this diplomatic circus that they are adopting. They thought that the force and the pressure and the escalation is part of the solution. No, these cannot be for the benefit of anyone. Diplomacy must prevail.

One by one, please, one by one. President Trump said that if there is no agreement on Wednesday, there will be. return to the military action. Then let's President Trump talk. He talks too much. He said contradictory things within the same statement. This cannot be prevented. I don't know what exactly he meant.

The American people must decide about him if his statements are lined and if they are going with international law, So then you go to Capitol Hill. It's what's going on internationally. And on Thursday and Friday, end of last week, you had RFK Jr. testifying before Congress. And he was asked a lot of questions by Democrats about as the secretary for the Department

of Health and Human Services and as a cabinet member, what's your view on the 25th Amendment? Should Donald Trump be removed because his cognitive and physical impair? that we all see and that the whole world sees, which is why I wanted to show you some of those clips from the outset. And then you had some MAGA Republican Congress members tried to be like, so how sane is Donald Trump? Would you say he's like the most sane person ever? Let me just show you what RFK Jr.'s testimony is regarding Democrats' desire to invoke the 25th Amendment. I think the Americans desire to invoke the 25th Amendment. Let's play this first clip. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I appreciate that. More sane than your uncle?

He's very, very sane. So I grew up in a place called Tipperary Hill. He's more sane than Uncle Joe. And Uncle Joe Biden. Then there was a moment over here where R.F.K. Jr. claims that Trump's post, threatening to end Iranian civilization was a message of love and compassion. Earlier in this hearing, Representative Ticano had referenced truth, social, from the president, and I believe I heard your response to be that he was the most sane president.

Do you care to comment any further? Is that your question? If you look at that true social policy, I was pointing out the last line of it as God bless the Iranian people. So it was clear that he was sending a nuanced message. He was sending a message of root force and violence to the Mullahs to incentivize them to change, but also sending a message of love and compassion to the Iranian people. So you can look at it and say, oh, it's insane that he'd make this kind of threat. But he's a dealmaker. He's a bargainer.

Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I appreciate that. Scott McFarland, who's the chief DC correspondent at the Midas Touch Network, he was on Capitol Hill, and he talked about how Democrats are continuing to talk about the 25th Amendment over and over again and how that's a major message since they've returned to Capitol Hill. Let's play this clip. Here on Capitol Hill, House Democrats do want to fight some messaging fights.

They are pushing this legislation to set up a commission to help execute the 25th Amendment on Trump, if and when that time comes. There have been 65 co-sponsors so far who've signed onto it and could be more. Yasmin Ansari, the Democrat from Arizona told me it is worth having this public discussion on the 25th Amendment. It is warranted, even if it's not really going to happen anytime soon. social media. Are you getting any feedback at all, negative or positive for Republicans or purple districts at all? I think we're getting a lot of positive feedback.

I have been in, you know, very impressed actually to see non-elected but Republicans, people like Tucker Carlson and former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green, people like Nick Quintas, Alex Jones. People I never thought I would ever agree with on anything, recognize that Donald Trump is so mentally unstable. And he clearly is in a state of cognitive decline. And I'm grateful that Representative Raskin is leaving the charge on this 25th Amendment bill and has started an investigation into his cognitive decline because he is unfit and he is a national security threat.

Then in addition to talking about the 25th Amendment, you had Russ Vote, architect, author of Project 2025 on Capitol Hill. He was asked some pretty basic questions by Democrats. Democratic Senator Merkley was asking, can you tell us how much the war in Iran costs? Let's play this clip. Would I be in the ballpark to say we've already spent at least $50 billion? I wouldn't want to make a characterization of that at this point. Okay. I would say as the most knowledgeable person in the executive branch of the budget, I would expect you to have pretty good numbers on that.

So I'm a little disappointed in that answer. Can't even explain how much money has been spent on the war in Iran. Well, what about the amount of money you're asking for right now? $1.5 trillion. Let's listen to what Democratic Senator Patty Murray had to say when she cross-examined, Russ' vote. Let's play it. You and President Trump are asking for $450 billion in new defense spending.

To be clear, that is the largest increase since World War II, and that does not include money that you reportedly still plan to request for the war in Iran. What is the total dollar amount requested for defense spending in FY27, including annual appropriations and reconciliation funds? 1.5 trillion, Senator, a combination between the appropriations and the mandatory. We are trying to increase the amount that you would fund through the appropriations, but we don't want the full. increase to have to be born in the appropriations process. So one and a half trillion dollars. What is the total dollar amount requested for non-defense spending? $660 billion.

Okay. And what is the overall cut to non-defense programs that you're proposing? 10 percent, $70 billion. $70 billion. We look at that as about $81 billion, frankly. So let me just say this. Director vote, you count yourself as a spending hawk. And here you are arguing for a gobb-smacking.

one and a half trillion dollar defense budget. I read that you disagreed with the president on that one and a half trillion dollar request, warning him that it would explode the deficit. Did you warn the president or administration officials that spending this much on defense would explode the deficit? Senator, I fully support this budget. You see, everything they say is gaslighting. It's a lie. There is no consistency in their positions. Someone like that will say, I'm a, deficit hawk. I'm a fiscal debt hawk. And I'm, it's like, no, you're not. You're going to spend 1.5. See how easy that they're able to spend $1.5 trillion on dropping bombs and killing little girls in elementary schools. But when it comes to helping little girls in America get health care

or helping families access health care or get better educations or afford things, all of a sudden, And it's, oh, we can't do that. We can we could fund the military industrial complex, 1.5. So I fully support it. All right, are we able to give Americans health care? I'm a fiscal hawk. Can't do it, can't do it. I'll just show you, what are the MAGA Republican Congress member saying?

This is Troy Nels, MAGA Republican Congress member, when he was asked by Pablo Monriquez of the Midas Touch Network in our D.C. Bureau, if he's concerned with the impact the war is having on our debt. Let's play this clip. Mr. Nels, real quick, are you concerned? about the impact that the war in Iran is having on the national debt no no no no no were you worried about the impact of the war in Ukraine had the taxpayers in this state in the United States the billions that we put in you know and you've got to ask yourself the

question is the billions that we put into Ukraine what have we what have we gotten out of that what what where are we at in Ukraine other than tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides being killed. Where, you know, that thing was just totally mismanaged by obviously the previous administration. I've never voted, never voted to give Ukraine a nickel. And I'm so glad I made that decision. But what have we gotten out of the war on Iran besides like higher gas prices? Oh, we have a much safer world. Come on. You can't. The region's on fire right now. Well, because we're going to finish a damn job. We're going to finish a damn job. But I will tell you this, Iran right now has been degraded to the point. It will take them a decade. It will take them a

decade, maybe more. I mean, with the amount of damage we've done to their military assets and the missile sites and all this stuff. I mean, I think the Israelis are probably sleeping a lot better today, and they'll continue to sleep a lot better as we continue to degrade them. The embargo, the shutting the straight down, I think that's all good stuff. We have to, we have to take Iran down to their knees, and it's going to happen one way or the other. It's going to happen. Thank you, Harrison. Well, folks, when we come back, I want to talk more about some of these lawsuits and the results of them. I want to talk about the ruling on the ballroom that has Donald Trump ranting and raving like a lunatic. I want to talk about Pam Bondi running away from her deposition before the House Oversight Committee.

I want to talk about the filings that Donald Trump made in the Southern District of Florida, where he seems to indicate he's getting ready to pay himself a $10 billion settlement. of your taxpayer dollars. We'll talk about that and more. Let's take our first quick break of the show. So excited to tell you about Bullshot, the high-performance foam cleaning sprays. I've been using Bullshot regularly,

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toaster pastries you grew up with, but without all the sugar. You can get $5 off your next order. including the protein pastries at magic spoon.com slash legal a.F. That's magic spoon.com slash legal a.f for $5 off. Welcome back to LegalAF. Thank you to all of our sponsors. A reminder. Make sure you subscribe to the LegalAF YouTube channel, wherever you are searching right now,

just search LegalAF. And also subscribe to the LegalAF substack. search for legal AF on substack. And if you or anyone you know has been injured in a car accident or trucking accident or the negligence of somebody else, reach out to 877 Popak AF or visit the Popak firm.com. They've got people across the country who are able to see if you have a case. So make sure you reach out. I want to talk right now about Pam Bondi continues to try to dodge and duck and not

attend a deposition where she's been lawful. subpoenaed, as I'm sure you know. By now, this past week, April 14th, she was supposed to have her deposition taken before the House Oversight Committee. She refused to show up before the House Oversight Committee deposition. She's taking the position

and the Department of Justice is taking the position with her. She's no longer the Attorney General so she doesn't have to testify, or at least it doesn't have to testify anytime soon. They're going to try to reschedule her deposition sometime in the future, but they're not going to give any dates. And so they're hoping

to try to push this deposition back, you know, maybe next year or, you know, many, many months from now and then they'll try to seek delays then. And for me, it's very, very simple. I mean, if you believe that you did a good job in the Epstein investigation, if you're proud of the work that you did regarding the Epstein investigation, why wouldn't you want to testify? Why would you be so afraid to testify before the House Oversight Committee? I mean, why would you engage in the behavior that Pam Bondi did when she previously testified before the House Judiciary Committee where she was asked very basic questions. And she started saying the Dow was 50,000. And she started, she had like a burn book and she was attacking each of the members of Congress. And it was just really

pathetic and embarrassed. It was overall just very humiliating for the Department of Justice, clearly for Bondi, but she has no shame. And just for everybody involved, you know, it's just really, really embarrassing. Like, why wouldn't you just go and, and just be happy, tell the truth, be confident if, unless you have something to hide. And it's obvious with Bondi. She has something to hide. She's involved in the cover-up of the Epstein files. And so she's desperately trying to avoid this deposition. Democrats aren't letting her. You have a Congress member Garcia, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee for the Democrats, sent a letter to James Comer, who's the chair of the House Oversight Committee. So if the Democrats are to take power,

were to take power in the midterms, Garcia would become the chair of the House Oversight Committee, which is the position that James Comer now holds. So you have a letter from the ranking member, the top Democrat on that committee, to the chair, James Comer. And this is the letter from Congress member Garcia that was sent on Friday. Dear Chairman Comer, it's been more than two weeks since Pam Bondi was fired from her role as Attorney General in three days since her scheduled deposition on April 14, 2026, at which she failed to appear. Since her termination, committee Democrats have received no information about the status of Ms. Bondi's deposition beyond broad, non-specific statements from committee Republicans that her deposition is being, quote,

rescheduled to some unspecified date and time in the future. Troulingly, public reporting suggests that the oversight Republicans, meaning the Republicans on the oversight committee, may have been working with the former Attorney General to avoid the deposition. DoJ has even explicitly requested that the committee confirm the subpoena has been withdrawn, given Ms. Bondi's firing. In this context, we are deeply concerned that oversight Republicans are willing to take the actions needed to secure. We are deeply concerned that are unwilling to take the actions needed to secure Ms. Bondi's testimony in the interest of transparency in advancing this committee's investigation. I ask that you immediately provide insight into the precise steps.

You have taken to schedule Ms. Bondi's deposition, the substance and scope of any negotiations to date, any statements you have received from Ms. Bondi as to her plans to appear for her deposition and advise whether a date for her deposition has yet been agreed upon. The letter goes on to say that this subpoena was issued on a bipartisan basis with a lot of Republican members like Nancy Mace, Lauren Bober, Tim Burchett, Michael Cloud, and Scott Perry, joining with all the Democrats to subpoena, Pam Bondi. And so, you know, one of the reasons why I started this episode by showing you Donald Trump's constant lies as it relates to matters of war and peace, life and death in the Middle East with the unlawful war in Iran, Donald Trump,

using the playbook that he uses here domestically, that he's used his entire life. to defraud people in business, using that abroad in Iran, is that these constant lies over and over and over again. It doesn't lead to success. I mean, it leads to bankruptcy. People realize what you're doing, the way Iran realizes that Donald Trump's manipulating the market, that Donald Trump is trying

to use the media in order to create these narratives, that Iran's agreeing to all of these things. And Iran eventually recognized, is that that's a sign of weakness. And, I mean, similarly here in the United States, it's like Donald Trump treats the American people like we don't realize that they're covering up the Epstein files. Like, we know the reason that Bondi is trying to dodge this deposition

is she doesn't want to testify about what we all know happened. And we want to get to the truth about how bad it is. How bad is the cover up? How terrible is what went down. What else is being covered up? What type of communication? One of the things I think that Bondi really wants to hide. And I think this is an area where the Democrats would start to question her on as well as just the way communications would take place with Donald Trump. How did she communicate? Was it through direct messages on truth social? Was it through text messages to Donald Trump? Were there meetings in the Oval Office? How involved was Donald Trump in the cover up itself? Was he speaking with you on a daily basis? How frequently would you keep Trump informed about it? Where's the paper trail?

Did you use Signal and these encrypted apps? What were you doing? How did you go about, you know, this coverup? In the prior deposition that was taken or the prior testimony that was given by Bondi, you see, each of the members only had five minutes each to ask Bondi questions because it was pursuant to the Republican House rules for her. attendance at a judiciary committee as just general judiciary oversight. So the main topic wasn't Epstein and it wasn't a seven-hour deposition just on Epstein. And the rules were each Democratic

member only had five minutes to ask questions. So the game that Bondi would play is during each five minutes, you would try to filibuster, you would try to delay. And then a new Democrat would get up there and ask their own questions. And the Republicans would try to rehabilitate her. or just not ask her any questions about the Epstein. So that format was more conducive to her ability, even though she looked horrible doing it, not to answer the questions. But if she had to sit for a seven-hour deposition

and Democrats could structure the deposition, so maybe you had one or two people asking the majority of the questions and really delving into the details, it would be under oath if she were to obstruct, the deposition would last longer than seven hours. And the Democrats would say, right, we want another deposition. And so that format, I think she's terrified of, especially where the only topic would be the Epstein file cover up by the Department of Justice. And so at any event, that's why she's dodging it.

The Democrats are sending a letter saying, we want dates immediately when her deposition is going to be taken. And we're not going to give up on this. We're not going to forget about this. And just another point to make as well, you know, the House oversight Democrats feels like they've been reinjected with life as you had this young Democratic Congress member, Robert Garcia, take over the committee as the ranking member for the Democrats, that is, and really just aggressively pursue an agenda of transparency. And so when a lot of people, like we at the Midas Touch Network, talk about, you know,

it's really time for a younger group of political leaders to step up. I think you're seeing it play out in the House Oversight Committee there as well. I think someone else whose deposition we're going to want to see taken pretty soon when he resigns as well. It's going to be the acting head of ice, Todd Lyons. CBS and others reported this past week that Todd Lyons is going to be resigning as the acting head of ice. could come in a few weeks, probably the latest this summer. And you will recall that Todd Lyons, he's been traveling around with a defibrillator because he gets so stressed out.

He's told people, and he has all of these panic attacks from getting yelled at by Stephen Miller and others in the White House and getting yelled at by Donald Trump, that he's had these panic attacks where, you know, his staff has to like literally take care of them. And, you know, look, while you have ICE and Border Patrol, Gestapo, terrorizing and torturing and killing people in our streets here in the United States, throwing people into these concentration camps, these terrible detention centers, separating families engaged in the height of cruelty, I mean, you have Todd Lyons right there having panic attacks and saying, whoa is me, feel bad for me, I'm going through all of these

health issues while you took this job and you're using this job to torture and terrorize people. So that's going to be a big deposition that I know the Democrats are going to want to take. And Democrats don't want any precedent being set that just because you leave your position means you get to escape depositions. Heck, if the Republican subpoenaed Hillary Clinton for a deposition, Todd Lyons should be subpoenaed for a deposition, and Pam Bondi should have to testify immediately. And again, I think regardless of what political party you're from, when you see people like this not testifying, not showing up,

when Pam Bondi or Todd Lyons are so willing to go on Fox and state regime media and spew their lies and to say all of the talking points. But then when it's like, okay, you say those things on Fox and you're on social media posting all of these lies and they post the photos of the people who they claim are like the worst of the worst migrants and oftentimes it turns, turns out they're lying and they're not telling the truth. I mean, sometimes there, but lots of times they're not telling the truth. You know, and they're just like defaming people, like when you're willing to torture

Abrago Garcia. Okay. So then testify. Show up at a deposition. Testify under oath. Meaningfully, answer the questions. What do you have to hide? You know, people forget this.

But in the Biden administration, you know, all of those cabinet members frequently went before the House and the Senate. regular. It wasn't even a thought that they wouldn't show up. And when they did show up, they answered the questions. And you know, it would allow the Republican Congress members and senators to grandstand so they could get their clips for Fox. I mean, I recall all the times the Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Majorchus would testify and the Republicans, despite the fact that former President Biden put forward a comprehensive immigration reform plan that was actually supported by the, by ICE agents on the border and their union and was supported by Republican

Senator Langford, a very conservative Republican. And it was a bipartisan bill that would have really, really fixed our immigration system, strong borders, but with compassion, pathways to citizenship for people who are paying taxes and working, getting rid of the criminals, more immigration judge. It was like a great fix to the immigration system. Remember Trump said, don't support that. It's immigration, run immigration and blaming immigrants for things is a winning issue for me. So Trump made the MAGA Republicans kill any comprehensive immigration reform. But why I'm bringing this up is my orcas would testify and the Republicans would, you know,

lay into him and say, well, why did you do this? And every crime that was committed, you know, would be all of a sudden blamed on my orcas, even though the stat showed that immigrants do not commit crimes at a higher rate than Americans do domestically, in fact, actually domestic crimes and people who are citizens commit crimes at a higher rate. But in any event, he would testify and show up. And these Republicans either don't show up or they don't answer the questions. And to me, that should be very revealing to you, regardless of what political party you're

from. Why aren't they answering these questions? Why are they running from the truth? And I think at the end of the day, you know the answer right there. So I want to go to the next topic, though, which is Donald Trump continuing to, rant and rave about this ballroom. A federal judge, Judge Leon, who's a Washington, D.C., federal judge who was appointed by George W. Bush in 2002, issued yet another order this past week, blocking Donald Trump's construction of the ballroom. Judge Leon made clear, I'm not blocking

the construction of the underground bunker that you say you're building, as I've made clear in my prior order, I'm not saying that any national security construction should be halted. I'm saying that the golden ballroom, which you say is needed to host parties and gala's, that if that is going to be built, it's very simple what you do. Go to Congress and get Congress to approve it. If you wanted to be funded by private donors, you can't do an end run around the power of the purse of Congress, Article I spending power. But if you want Congress to say, okay, this will be funded by private funds, Congress can pass a law and you can sign it into law that says that this specific instruction will be made with the use of private funds. It'll be

done transparently. We'll know who the donors are and what their vested interests are. there'll be a process of transparency and may move a little slower. That's our system, but in the name of transparency, that's something that we probably all want to make sure there aren't quid pro quo, and monument clause violations, and things like that. So have Congress debated, let the public, let the elected officials talk about it on the floor of the House and the Senate, and then they could have a discussion on it, and then there could be a vote on it. And if Congress votes for the ballroom, then there'll be the ballroom.

If Congress votes on a triumphal arc, let them vote on the triumphal arc. Let them make the message to the American people that while Americans can't afford things and they can't afford a home and they can't afford groceries or gas, and as people are psychologically tortured living paycheck to paycheck, if they're lucky enough to get a paycheck, as health care is being ripped away from them, as opportunities are becoming less than less for future generations, that you want to fund ballrooms and arcs. And if that's what the electives vote on,

then the people can hold them accountable in elections. That's our system. If you don't like our system, and you prefer a system like the one they have in Russia, or in Belarus, or if you prefer the way Victor Orban would rule over Hungary, clearly the people of Hungary didn't like that because they ousted Orban and brought in a pro-democracy,

pro-EU party led by Peter Magyar. There are other systems available for you, but in our democracy, in our system of checks and balances, in our system of bicameral legislatures, this is what we do. This is the American system. We don't have kings. We don't have dictators. We don't have authoritarian. We don't have people decreeing golden ballroom, triumphal arcs, monuments to myself, put my face on the $100 bill. That's not the way our system's supposed to work.

And if you want it that way, then have them pass a law and let there be debate in Congress on these issues. That's the thing, whether we're talking about, you know, Bondi, testifying. That's our system. We have oversight. You're not above oversight. Testify, whether it is the ballrooms, get a law passed. And then you get it. And then we could decide as people how we feel that our members of Congress are focused on ballrooms and triumphal arcs.

And that's our system. accountability, checks and balances. And so you have this federal judge, Judge Leon, he had to now address the fact that after ruling against Donald Trump two weeks ago and blocking the ballroom, Donald Trump then made an argument that this is actually a national security issue, not just the bunker. Trump said not the bunker. The bunker and the ballroom are the same thing.

And the ballroom is a shield, Donald Trump says. that protects him against ballistic missiles and drones. So therefore, the ballroom can't be, the ballroom needs to be built because how else can he protect himself from the missiles? And you can't, this is what Trump says. You can't build the bunker unless you build the ballroom because they're now connected. And so because he ripped down the east wing and started building a ball, started building a bunker and a ballroom, he says, Now I have to complete the ballroom because now that I destroyed it, I've now placed my life in jeopardy because now there's an active construction site.

So something has to be built. Otherwise, we're left vulnerable because we destroyed the East Wing. And Judge Leon, I'll read you what Judge Leon says in his opinion in just a moment. Judge Leon says, and again, this is a George W. Bush judge. Is it like a liberal judge or a left wing judge? This is a George W. Bush senior federal court judge, top federal court judge who's been doing this for a long time, says it's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. It's so disingenuous. Let me be very clear. You want to build your bunker. You say it's for national security. Go build your bunker. But a ballroom requires congressional approval. That's what it requires. And so I want to talk about that in a moment. I want to take our last quick break of the show. This is a scathing order. Judge Leon, and I want to share with you with Judge Leon said. A reminder, if you or somebody who knows, been injured in a car accident,

a trucking accident, or injured by the negligence of a third party or a company, or if you know somebody who may have been killed in an accident and their family is looking for a lawyer. These tragic situations happen, sadly. And Popak law firm is there to help the legal A-F listeners and viewers. If you or someone, you know, has a case or if you think you have a case. The consultation is free, so call or text 877 Popak AF. or visit the Popak firm.

They're available 24-7. They've got lawyers in every state across the country right now. So please, if you can, go call or tell a friend if they have a case. Also, check out Legal AF on YouTube and Legal AF on Substack. Both are doing incredible there. Help grow the Legal AF brand across all the various platforms. They've got so many great contributors on the LegalAF YouTube channel and on that substack. All right, let's take our last quick break of the show.

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Head to VeracityHealth.C-O and use code legal AF for up to 65% off your order. Once again, that's V-E-R-A-C-I-E-E-E-Halth.co for 65% off and make sure you use my promo code, LegalA-F, so they know I sent you. Welcome back to LegalA-F. Thank you to all of our sponsors. Just want to let everybody know, just covering for Popak, obviously, on this episode. He'll be back next weekend and next week. Don't you worry.

He had a family engagement to go to. And I said, don't worry, family first. Make sure you'll cover for me soon one day. And we appreciate Popok and all the great work that he's doing, how he's building the LegalAF channel. And I think arrest every now and then is a good thing for our, all of our hosts on the Midas Touch Network. So before we finished right before the last break, I was talking about Judge Leon's ruling.

And I'd like to just read for you a little bit from the ruling itself. One of the things I like to do at Legal AF and on the Midas Touch Network generally is to just show you the judge's words, just so you know, it's not like my opinion. I'm not characterizing the judge saying. I want you to hear what the judge

says so you can view it yourself and you could form your own opinions do i agree with the judge did the judge go too far did the judge get it right this is what i encourage my law students to do in the undergrad students who i teach at law school uh to do read read the opinion right and i just think so so much of corporate news they'll have like the split screen they'll have this side yelling at this side and this side yelling at this side and it's just like can you just show the audience please what the court ruled and let the audience make it let the audience make a decision for themselves right so let's take a look at judge leon's order uh from the end of last week blocking donald trump's ballroom and clarifying the prior order that you can build your bunker donald but stop acting like your

bunker and the ballroom are the same thing and that you need a ballroom as a shield to protect your life that's crazy that's a demented thing to say so no we're not going there here's what the judge said On March 31st, 2026, I granted the motion of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States, the plaintiff, for a preliminary injunction to halt construction of a ballroom on the White House grounds as ultra-virus, meaning as outside the bounds of the Constitution. In recognition of the national security and presidential security concerns raised by the ongoing construction project, I excluded from the scope of the injunctions, actions, strictly necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House and its grounds. Based on the record before me, I cannot plausibly agree with what Donald Trump is saying, where defendants now seek to turn this exception on its head and unreasonably insist that the entire ballroom project may proceed. The court goes on to say how on April 1st, the National Trust, that's the plaintiff in this action, citing public states,

by the president interpreting my order, filed a motion for clarification of the preliminary injunction. Defendants, meanwhile, Trump, not surprisingly, filed an appeal and an emergency motion to stay. On April 11th, our circuit court remanded the case with instructions to promptly address the pending motion to clarify how the injunction and its exceptions ensure safety and security pending litigation and extended my temporary stay of the preliminary injunction to April 17th. On April 13th, defendants filed their opposition to the National Trust motion to clarify and attached a Secret Service declaration. On April 14th, the National Trust filed a reply in support of its motion. The same day, defendants filed a motion seeking a further 14-day stay of the preliminary injunction.

the motions are now ripe for decision. Then it goes on to say the following. Defendants argue, Trump argues, that the entire ballroom construction project, from tip to tail, falls within the safety and security exception, and therefore may proceed unabated. That is neither a reasonable nor a correct reading of my order, exclamation point. My order preliminarily enjoined defendants, excluding the president, from taking any action in furtherance of the physical

development of the proposed ballroom. The accompanying opinion stated that the ballroom construction project must stop until Congress authorizes its completion. It is to say the least incredible, if not disingenuous, that defendants now argue that my order does not stop the ballroom construction because of the safety and security exception, exclamation point. Just pause right there. I don't think Judge Leon has ever before put exclamation points twice. in basically the opening paragraph of a discussion section. But he's pissed. He's saying, can you stop just lying and gaslighting the American people?

My order was clear. I said, you need to stop construction of the ballroom. I'm not going to prevent national security issues, of course. So you're now claiming that the ballroom is national security. That's ridiculous. Stop it. Just behave normally. This is not just, this is embarrassing for the entire United States.

of America and the judiciary that we even have to hear a case like this. Judge Leon goes on to say, for the reasons that follow, I will further clarify and amend my order to stop only the above-ground construction of the planned ballroom. My amended order does not, however, stop below-ground construction of national security facilities, work necessary to provide for presidential security, and construction necessary to protect and secure the White House, and the construction site itself. And then he goes on to talk about how the injunction excludes only below ground construction because throughout the case, defendants, Trump, raised discrete national security concerns about construction of underground elements. Early on, defendants argued that security concerns

warranted permitting the current below ground construction to continue. Specifically, defendants indicated that the national security-related facilities are being. constructed below ground, referencing a security bunker. The exception for underground national security facilities does not include the proposed ballroom because defendants themselves distinguished between the below ground and above ground construction, stating that the below surface work was driven by national security concerns independent of the above-grade construction. Defendants also repeatedly represented that the project's below-ground elements do not lock in the design of the above ground elements. Defendants now brazenly assert that the below

ground construction has been done with the expectation of what would go above. Defendants argue that security related elements of the ballroom, such as missile resistant steel columns and beams, drone-proof roofing, and bullet-and-blast-proof glass windows will advance safety and security interests as part of an inseparable hole, defendants further argue that leaving the site as it stands poses serious safety and security threats that can only be addressed by proceeding with the construction. In my view, these arguments fail to justify defendants' extraordinary, if not disingenuous reading of my preliminary injunction. Indeed, defendants' latest representations that the entire project advances critical national security objectives as an integrated

hold are in direct conflict with defendants' prior representations that the above ground and below ground portions are independent of one another. I can go on and keep on reading, but you get the point. The reason why I wanted to spend that time, long as it may have been, reading the court's order, because it's important that we're logical and consistent. And this is why I went into law to begin with. It's why I went to law school. It's why I was a litigator. It's why I'm a law professor. started the illegal AF channel. It's why we started the Midas Touch Network. I want a fact-based, evidentiary-based approach. And when people say one thing one day and another thing another day, and they lie consistently going back to the theme I started with at the beginning, that's wrong.

And it has dangerous consequences. And I'm not okay with it. And it's why we call it out specifically here. And when you have a show sometimes where it's the gamesmanship of a debate and one side is saying this and the other side saying that. And they're each using rhetorical tricks to try to stump the other side. To me, I just want to know what the truth is. Did the Trump regime actually say in prior filings that the bunker is separate from the ballroom and now are they changing that opinion or changing that because Trump wants the ballroom so badly?

Why do you think Trump loses all of these cases over and over again his entire life? Why do you think he was viewed by some judges as a vexatious and frivolous litigant? He's brought thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands of lawsuits in his life, trying to bully people and bulldoze over people with bullshit, with lies, with fraud over and over again. And it's relentless. It is nonstop. I mean, just think about this case right here. A judge rules against Trump.

The National Trust for the historic preservation of D.C. wins. That's a win, right? But Donald Trump goes, you know what? my life is now in jeopardy by this ruling. So I'm going to make another argument right now that this is imperilling my life and that I, if I don't get my ballroom, my life is in jeopardy.

Who would even think to make such a despicable argument? I mean, as much as I thought that George W. Bush had a disastrous presidency, he wouldn't make an argument like that. As much as I look back at Reagan and say, what a horrible presidency in my opinion. That, in my opinion, You can disagree with that opinion.

You know, when I go through the Reagan library right here in California, somewhere near where I live and I see at least he respected the dignity of the office. He would never go and say things like this. I mean, Obama and Biden would never make arguments like this or advance the idea of ballrooms or go out and make these false statements about foreign policy and going back to what I said at the beginning of this episode, saying that you've made deals with Iran when you have haven't made deals and that the straight of her moves is open when it's not open. It's just a constant fire hose of lies that needs to be addressed and it needs to be stopped.

And I'm glad that you have someone like a judge Leon calling it out and saying, this is a lie. Here's what you previously said. I'm glad you have the National Historic Trust sticking in there and not giving up and saying, okay, you're going to make this argument. Well, we're going to just point out that you're a liar. We're going to keep on bringing this up to the judge. I'm glad that we have people who are courageous like Abrago Garcia, give him credit. When the Trump regime put all of their resources to try to destroy that guy's life and, frankly, in my opinion, kill him.

Abrago Garcia got a great set of lawyers who rallied behind him. And one person, Abrago Garcia, an immigrant able to stand up against the Trump regime and fight back and win in court. If you think about the other cases too, E. Jean Carroll, being able to prevail. when Donald Trump threw everything at her and her legal team. She didn't win just one. She won twice, right? She won the initial sexual assault and defamation civil case. Then she won a second defamation case.

Think about New York Attorney General Letitia James. Think about Alvin Bragg and their ability to succeed, despite Donald Trump throwing everything at them. You know, you just have to be relentless and you have to just keep on fighting back with Donald Trump. And when you look at it through the legal framework that I think we utilize here on legal A.F, I think it becomes very clear how you do that, why Trump hates the courts, why he hates our system, but it makes you pull back for a second beyond the gamification of politics, right?

Beyond the horse race of politics. And actually think about that these systems are intended to derive at the truth and to get at the truth. Why do we have rules against hearsay? Why do we have rules of evidence? I taught evidence. I love teaching evidence in law school because we're trying to get good information in front of a jury. And oftentimes whenever there's good information in front of a jury, they unanimously rule against

Donald Trump. So what's the system that Donald Trump wants? He wants Putin's system, in my opinion. He wants the Belarus system. He wants Lukashenko's system. By the way, if you have Lukashenko saying that America showed how weak it was, that it can't even fight back against Iran, that Iran was able to take out America's military. So you think that China's afraid and Russia's afraid?

I mean, these are people who Donald Trump saying are their allies. By the way, while Donald Trump's out there, you know, doing all of these things, in the dead of night on Friday, he removed the sanctions yet again against Russian oil. He extended the revocation of U.S. sanctions against Russia for yet another significant period. And remember when Treasury Secretary Scott Besson, what, middle of this week said, the U.S. will not be renewing its removal of sanctions against Russian oil. They just did it on Friday. They lie about everything, and their lies are so big and fanciful that lots of people are like,

some of it's got to be true, right? Like, don't we meet in the middle because I get it. Maybe they exaggerate. No, no, no. They don't exaggerate. They create an entire fake world. Everything is a lie and they want you to bend into their fake, fraudulent dystopian world. And you can't.

You have to stay strong and recognize it and say, uh-uh, I'm not going there. Let's live in reality. So the system Trump wants is where he settles with himself, where there is no adversarial process, which brings me to the last topic we'll talk about on this episode. because a status conference brief was filed in federal court in Florida in a case that Donald Trump essentially filed against Donald Trump. Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the federal government alleging that his tax information was leaked publicly, even though in the past all presidents voluntarily turned over their tax information. And this is separate from when Congress during his first term subpoenaed his tax information and fought to make,

in public and it turned out Trump almost paid no taxes or like $750 in taxes. Like he paid very little taxes from the relevant years in his first term when Congress was able to get the information. This is different. He said there was a data breach on lots of people's tax records and he was in this data breach. So he says he should be paid $10 billion that the federal government should pay him $10 billion, that you should pay him $10 billion. Because where's the money coming from taxpayers?

So Trump sues the IRS and the Treasury depart. He's, who's he sue? The guy I just showed you. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson, the guy who just worked with Donald Trump to continue to remove the sanctions on Russian oil to inflict massive damage to Ukraine and to try to help Russia take over Ukraine and to destroy NATO, right? Trump did a lawsuit against Besson, his own cabinet member, basically. The Treasury Department and the IRS, and the IRS is within the Treasury Department.

Trump's demanding that we taxpayers pay him $10 billion for the data breach. And in a filing that he just made in federal court, he said that he's working on a settlement right now with the Treasury Department and the IRS. Now, Trump has publicly acknowledged as well that he intends to settle the case with himself for $10 billion. Now, what Trump says is, well, I'm going to give the money to charity. So if I get paid, I'm going to give it to charity. Let me tell you what, one, I don't think he's going to give it to charity.

But two, if he does, you know what he's going to do? In my opinion, he's going to use it for a charitable deduction so that he'll never have to pay taxes ever again. Think about a $10 billion deduction that he'll try to carry over year over, year over for the rest of his life so that he never has to pay taxes. Look, I did a $10 billion charitable thing. He'll probably divert the money, in my opinion, to some Trump charity or to the presidential library.

Remember, he's building this library, which turns out isn't a lot. library, but is actually like a hotel that he's building. It's like a skyscraper hotel and office complex that he's building in Miami. So we had Ron DeSantis give him a state college property in Miami that belonged to a college there for him to build his so-called presidential library. Remember, Trump made all of these different media companies, pay him these settlement agreements at the beginning of his term that would go to the presidential library. So he's going to use a lot of those funds to now construct a skyscraper, a building, because we've seen the renderings, and Trump has said it's like a hotel. So the library is a hotel that's going to be tax.

You know, he's not going to have to pay taxes on it because he's calling it a library. And I think he then puts billions of dollars that he's going to pay himself with your taxpayer dollars to projects like that. And then he's going to claim to the IRS that it's a deduction, so he'll never have to pay taxes. ever again for the rest of his life or i don't know could the claim refunds or whatever he's going to do but it's part of in my opinion a tax gap but just pull back for a second could you even believe this is happening like like i wanted to start off talking about what's happening in iran because uh it is so interconnected to what's happening domestically as well right i mean times are very grim Let's just face it.

American people are suffering. American people can't afford things. Donald Trump has taken a sledgehammer to the government. Cruel and unusual punishment inflicted on the American people right now. And people in the United States in general, right? While he's engaging in this unlawful and catastrophic war, demanding $1.5 trillion to fund, where is he going to go next? He says he's going to invade Cuba next.

So while he's doing all of this, harming America, globally, harming America domestically, destroying the world globally, it is important that we hold this accountable, that we don't normalize this behavior. And our legal system here supposed to hold people accountable. Now, Donald Trump has put a sledgehammer to our legal system, our right-wing Supreme Court granting Trump absolute immunity, is perhaps the worst ruling in the entire history of the Supreme Court. Our Constitution was founded on the idea of no kings, even in the UK, where you have royalty in kings. You had Andrew Mountbatten being held liable and responsible and investigated. They don't even have absolute immunity for royalty where they actually have royalty, but our Supreme

Court granted an absolute immunity doctrine to Trump. And you're seeing the consequences of a rogue criminal presidency, a terrorist regime presidency. And we have to use the language that calls it out. That's what we do here on the Midas Touch Network. And, you know, as we start to think about what happens next, I mean, I think there should be Hague war crime trials. We're going to be covering that stuff here on the Midas Touch Network because this is a regime of war criminals who have blown up boats in Venezuela and have killed lots of people there and in the Pacific who have blown up elementary schools in Iran who have worked with Israel to kill lots of innocent people in Gaza and Beirut. This is a really.

regime that's engaged in genocide. Let's call it what it is. And it is a regime that needs to be called out for its behavior and it needs to be held accountable for it. And we have to get back to like focusing on law and accountability, international law and truth and facts. And, you know, the game, all the gamification of politics and all of that, you know, is often a distraction from getting at the truth and getting at decency and empathy and an accountability. ability. So that's what we're going to always focus on and fight for here at the Midas Touch Network. As I mentioned the Supreme Court, one thing that's perhaps good news, although we'll be following it, there were two Supreme Court justices who we believed could potentially be resigning at the end

of the Supreme Court term this summer. One was Justice Alito, the other was Justice Thomas. And I've been talking about how a lot of right-wing circuit court justices and district court judges or circuit court judges and district court judges are positioning themselves to potentially, you know, get that Supreme Court role if Alito or Thomas were to resign. Alito is saying right now that he's not resigning. Thomas, we're still on Thomas watch to see if Thomas is going to be resigning, or retiring, rather, not should they're resigning. Actually, they're retiring.

Justice Alito, not retiring, sources close to Alito told Fox, we'll see what happens with Justice Thomas and we'll keep you posted there. Because what Trump wants to be able to do is a point, two young right-wing extremist MAGA people to get on the Supreme Court to make these horrific unlawful rulings that are blessed by the Supreme Court, which become the law until the precedent is overturned. So that's some good news to leave you with as well, even as we talk about Trump saying that he's involved in settlement conversations with Treasury Secretary Scott Besson to pay himself $10 billion to himself from your time. taxpayer money, which is absolutely ridiculous. We miss Popok today. Always love having him on the show. I'll be back next week. But everybody hit subscribe here. Let's get to 7 million subscribers here. Subscribe to Popok's YouTube channel. It's a Popok's substack right now. Let's get those channels. Continue to be on top of the charts. And if you or somebody know has been injured in a car

accident, an auto accident, trucking accident, whatever, if you know someone who was killed in an accident and their family's looking for a lawyer, if you know someone who's the victim of sexual assault or harassment, reach out to the Popok firm, see if you have a case, see if a friend or someone you know has a case, call or text 877 Popok AF or visit the Popokfirm.com. They've got lawyers all across the country who are available 24-7 and the consultation is free. In case, you need to write it down. We'll put in the description below where you can reach out to Popak as well if you think you have a case. All right, everybody, thanks so much for watching this weekend's LegalAF. We appreciate you. We're grateful for you. We'll see you next time on Legal

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