Legal AF by MeidasTouch - MAGA Gov BUSTED in EXTORTION SCHEME Just Before Election

Episode Date: October 22, 2024

It looks like Governor DeSantis in Florida isn’t just content with crushing First Amendment speech against American voters to threaten criminals again against pro-choice ads running in Florida, but now his office may have committed extortion and fraud as well. Michael Popok take a look at new filings in a federal case against DeSantis’ administration and threats against his own lawyers to do his illegal bidding. Head to https://policygenius.com/legalaf to get your free life insurance quotes and see how much you could save. Join the LegalAF 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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down in Florida with the fascist governor Ron DeSantis. It looks like it's not enough that he has tried unsuccessfully three times to suppress First Amendment expression and threatening criminal action against broadcast television down there for running ads in favor of Amendment Four. It looks like he was willing to commit extortion and forgery in order to do it. We got a new filing in the Northern District of Florida Federal Court in front of Judge Walker.

You remember Judge Walker? I reported on him a couple of days ago. He's the one in the latest rebuff of Ron DeSantis's attacks in the First Amendment Looked the Florida governor in the eye in a recent ruling and said let me make it simple for the state of Florida it's the First Amendment stupid. Well, it looks like it could be a forgery and extortion stupid, too Here's the new reporting. I knew, and I reported on it last week, that John Wilson, a longtime employee lawyer in the Department of

Health, who had been the general counsel of the Department of Health, which is the department that has that wacky surgeon general for Florida, Joe Ladapo.odopo, who's a COVID denier, who got caught altering COVID statistics in order to scare people against using COVID vaccine. That Joe Lodopo, the one who's close to the Trump campaign, looks like Joe Lodopo's general counsel got ordered to submit under his own signature to broadcast television stations throughout Florida, a cease and desist letter that was actually written by Governor DeSantis' lawyers, his general counsel, but that Wilson, they put a gun to Wilson's head,

figuratively, and told him either his signature or his resignation is gonna be on the table in the morning. And he signed these cease and desist letters threatening criminal action against these television stations if they continue to run a 60 second commercial by a woman, and this is not an actress or an actor, a woman who had brain cancer who was refused an abortion in DeSantis Florida.

Well, they don't like that. And they said that was fraudulent and false, which is not true. It is true. And they threatened these television stations on the letterhead of John Wilson, mind you, as being in violation of criminal law, punishable by a misdemeanor and 60 days in jail. Now, I also reported that within days of that cease and desist letter going out and before John Wilson himself was sued, along with the Surgeon General, by Floridians protecting freedom, in this case in which the judge issued a temporary restraining order against the Florida governor telling him it's the First Amendment stupid and you can't

threaten criminal action against the expression of First Amendment. We also knew that Wilson had resigned and I reported on it. A little bit of a head scratcher. He'd been in the Department of Health as a lawyer for 14 years, long-time member of the Florida Bar, and he wrote a little bit of a noisy resignation in which he said he was a man of good conscience and he could no longer, you know, basically continue to write these cease and desist letters. At the time, we thought he wrote the cease and desist letter coerced by the governor. It's worse. It's that the governor's lawyers, in particular, It's worse. It's that the governor's lawyers, in particular, a couple of lawyers that put pressure on him, I'll tell you who they are in one second, the two lawyers that put pressure on him,

Sam Elliott, who's one of the top lawyers for DeSantis, along with Ryan Newman and Jed Dottie, both general counsels for DeSantis, wrote the letter and forced Wilson to sign it, basically forging the letter for him and telling him to sign it and send it. And then they wanted him to keep doing it more and more and more, and that apparently is why he resigned. Now, how do I know all that? Well, we got a new declaration or sworn affidavit from Mr. Wilson that's now been filed in the

Northern District case in front of Judge Walker. And here's what it says. It says, I served as the General Counsel for the Florida Department of Health from March of 2022 until October 10th of 2024. He then goes on to say on page two, on October the third, in my official capacity as general counsel for the Department of Health, I sent the letters that are referenced in the plaintiff's complaint. Those are the cease and desist letters that were sent to various broadcast television

stations telling them they were committing sanitary nuisance, some weirdo Florida violation, and that punishable by 60 days in jail. He says in paragraph five, and lean in on this one, I received drafts of the letters directly from Sam Elliott, assistant general counsel for the executive office of the governor earlier that day. I did not draft the letters or participate in any discussions about the letters prior to October 3rd. Ryan Newman, this is paragraph 7, General Counsel for the Governor, and Jay Dottie, Deputy General Counsel for the Governor, directed me to send them under my name and on behalf of the Florida Department of Health.

There's the forgery, there's the extortionortion because there's an implicit threat of or else. On paragraph 8, on October 10, 2024, I resigned from my position as general counsel in lieu of complying with directives from Newman and Dottie to send out further cease and desist correspondence to the media outlets similar to the October 3 letter. On October 10, 2024, prior to my resignation, I was directed by Mr. Newman, the General Counsel for DeSantis, to execute contracts for outside counsel to be retained by the department to assist with enforcement proceedings pursuant to the October 3rd letters. It looks like, and we can get this through public records law, that the last and final act, again,

they put the pen in Wilson's hand, the governor, and they then took their hand, figuratively, metaphorically, and signed his name to a series of contracts that the state entered into with Florida law firms, I'm looking at you, whoever you are, I'll find out who you are, Florida law firms and engage them

for $1.4 million contracts in order to go after these broadcast stations for quote unquote false advertising. So now the worm has turned and the plot has thickened because not only are they ghostwriting for Wilson, not only are they forcing him and ordering him to enter into contracts and spend public money and taxpayer dollars for $1.4 million to go after

in violation of the First Amendment. I mean, I like these lawyers to look Judge Walker in the eye, who's already shot down three total attempts by the DeSantis administration to try to crush dissent, crush the First Amendment rights of people and political activism. I want them to stand before Judge Walker, a federal judge, an Article 3 judge, and tell them that they are properly exercising their obligations as a Florida bar member to go after TV stations on the argument that they're somehow violating criminal law

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Let's play the clip now of the commercial, which is the Caroline, who is the woman who declares and authentically says, we have no reason to doubt her, that she had brain cancer and she was not given a medical exception for an abortion in DeSantis Florida in support of amendment four,

which needs 60% of the vote in Florida in order to pass on election day. Let's roll that clip. When I saw the tumor on the MRI, my first thought was, am I gonna be able to see my daughter again? The doctors knew if I did not in my pregnancy, I would lose my baby, I would lose my life, and my daughter would lose her mom.

Florida has now banned abortion, even in cases like mine. Amendment 4 is going to protect women like me. We have to vote yes. All right, so you have this unconscionable coercion that the judge has already stopped with his TRO with it's the First Amendment stupid. And wait till he gets these lawyers that have been retained in Florida, and I'll do a follow-up about who they are

as we continue to follow this case. What's the takeaway here? That Ron DeSantis will stop at nothing and will go to extreme lengths in order to suppress the First Amendment expression of American citizens in Florida. We can't let him get anywhere near the White House either. It's not just Trump, it's Trumpism, it's fascism. And we now have the general counsel forcing the hand literally of another lawyer in another department in order to have him ghostwrite against his will, cease and desist letters threatening criminal conduct because they're trying to stop a woman exercising her

right to choose. I just want a level playing field. I just want a level playing field where the government is not tilting the field in their favor. This amendment four should pass. I think there's 60% of voters in Florida, women and people who support women who think it's right to restore reproductive rights to women in the state of Florida. One out of three women in the United States lives in a state where they cannot exercise bodily autonomy

or reproductive rights or make decisions about their body. One third, and Florida is among them. I think the 60% will pass that supermajority again. Right-wing Republican legislature, a rubber stamp for DeSantis, raise the number to 60% in order to amend the Constitution in Florida. But I think they get over that hurdle. But let's be on an even playing field, shall we? Let's not try to cut the legs out from under First Amendment core political speech being advertised properly on broadcast television to try to promote their position.

Ron DeSantis wants to compete in the marketplace of ideas. He can run his own ads using taxpayer dollars if he can or have political action groups do the same in Florida, and then it's even. But not this, we'll say what we wanna say, but if you try to say something, we'll bound and gag you and we'll put you in jail. That is not appropriate in our America. And this is the big fight between us and them.

I don't want it to be us and them, but let's call out us and them. I don't want it to be us and them, but let's call out us and them. I want it to be red, white and blue, not red versus blue, but in red versus blue, it's about fascism and totalitarianism. It's not about conservatism. It's about them ripping away your right to choose and then criminalizing you when you expressed

your first amendment right to protest that or use your voice to try to affect change. That's where we're at right now. And so thank God, God created Judge Walker, who's holding DeSantis' feet to the fire up in Florida on a regular basis, whether he's citing 1984 George Orwell's classic or the lunch counter protests throughout the country and civil rights movement including in Florida or now it's the First Amendment stupid. I'm not going to give credit to John Wilson, but now that I've read his affidavit and declaration,

I do feel a certain amount of pity for him. Having been there for 14 years, he predated to Santus. He predated Joe Adopo, the Surgeon General who's tied back to Donald Trump. He could have resigned before he wrote the letters. That probably would have been better. He could have resigned before he signed the checks, but I guess I'll give him some credit that he was caught up in the moment, didn't want to totally torch his career at that moment. But he has participated by filing under oath in truth, an affidavit, a declaration that tells us what really happened here. And with the extortion and the implicit threat that he would lose his job if he didn't sign those contracts spending 1.4 million and wasting 1.4 million of Florida taxpayer dollars on hiring law firms to do something that itself is illegal and unethical. The FCC, the Federal Communications Commission in Washington headed by a Biden

appointee made it clear to the broadcast television stations that she has her back. She has their back. And so does the Biden administration that only she can pull their licenses and she finds that that's a proper First Amendment expression. She can't stop the criminal conduct of it but then you could always use the Department of Justice to investigate the DeSantis administration for civil rights violations related to this and I think that's what needs to be done. We'll continue to follow it all on Legal AF and on our new channel, the Legal AF channel. Just go over to YouTube, just put in at Legal AFMTN for Midas Touch Network and you'll find the Legal AF channel. Find out what 50 million people a month already know. Legal AF is the home of commentary and analysis at the intersection of law and

politics like no other and tune into our full length podcast on Wednesdays and Saturdays called Legal AF on the Midas Touch Network. So until my next reporting, it's Michael Popak. In collaboration with the Midas Touch Network, we just launched the Legal AF YouTube channel. Help us build this pro democracy channel where I'll be curating the top stories, the intersection of law and politics. Go to YouTube now and free subscribe at Legal AF MTN. That's at Legal AF MTN.