Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Prosecutor FIRES BACK at Trump’s LAST MINUTE Stunt

Episode Date: April 3, 2024

The Manhattan DA has fired back at Trump and his lawyers and their reliance on nothing more than a “daisy chain of innuendos” and naked argument to try to have NY criminal court Judge Merchan removed from the case starting 15 April for the second time in a year, because his daughter is —wait for it— employed (shocking). Michael Popok explains why the judge will deny the motion, and may consider sanctioning the lawyers for making bad faith and meritless arguments after being warned not to do so. Get 15% off for new customers at https://theperfectjean.nyc with promo code LEGALAF15 Visit https://meidastouch.com for more! Join us on Patreon: 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 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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So when I need a judgment-free zone, I go to Planet Fitness. Get started for one dollar down and then only fifteen dollars a month. Offer ends April 12th. 49-dollar annual fee. Apply to See Home Club for details. This is Michael Popak with illegal AF hot take. Daisy chain of innuendo naked lawyer argument. That's all that Donald Trump is attempting to use to get rid of Judge Juan Marchand for the second time in over a year. That in a pre-motion letter required by the judge whenever Donald Trump files motions because his side has a history

of filing meritless bad faith motions. They got to get through the judge first. We know, as I predicted several days ago, that Donald Trump was going to try once again to get rid of Juan Marchand as the judge because his daughter has a job. That's it. That's the best that Donald Trump can make out. That Juan Murchon's adult daughter, Lauren Murchon, works for a company called Authentic out of Chicago and she has a leadership position with them and gets a paycheck. And that to Donald Trump disqualifies Juan Murchon and shows that he has a financial interest or an interest in the outcome of the case such that he should remove himself from the case. This is the very exact same set of arguments already made by Donald Trump once and a prior lawyer and rejected by the judge, rightly so,

after the ethics commission that presides over judicial issues looked at this very same issue about the daughter working as a political consultant, or actually she's in a leadership position for a company called Authentic out of Chicago, who has a client list which includes democratic causes. And to Donald Trump, that means, oh ho, they're using the trial of Daddy Mershon, presiding over my trial,

to raise money for the democratic causes. Aha! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. That's exactly what Donald Trump does. His entire transparent strategy is to use the slings and arrows of his prosecutions to raise money and separate his gullible followers from their money. That's what he does. He's even gone so far as to compare himself to Jesus Christ Almighty and that he's being crucified worse, I've actually

heard one of his followers say, worse than Jesus Christ in the way that he's being prosecuted and persecuted. That's Donald Trump. Where is there any evidence, one shred, one scintilla of evidence that shows that Judge Murchon has compromised his ethics, his morals, his values, his responsibility as a judge in order to benefit his daughter? That he's made one decision for or against Donald Trump in this case or at all to benefit his daughter's client list. That's how attenuated it is. Or as the people of the state of New York, the Manhattan DA, in firing back in their letter today

to the judge, they said, this is nothing more than the daisy chain of innuendos and naked allegations without any factual support whatsoever, in which they cite and cross-site and sub-reference articles that were planted by Donald Trump in various newspapers to say, see, her client base is raising money against Donald Trump and pointing to his criminal problems. Of course they are. What candidate against Donald Trump wouldn't point to the fact that he's been indicted 91 times in four different criminal proceedings and he's up right now in a 34 count felony case that starts on April 15th?

Who wouldn't acknowledge that? That's just facts. That's just where we are right now. That's not anybody benefiting. But in order to remove Judge Mershon, they have to do more than that as you would expect. The lawyers for Donald Trump have to show competent evidence, sworn testimony, something under oath, a case that supports their position, a fact, a case, a law, something, but there's nothing there. In their two-page letter, put it up on the screen, there's nothing there,

except for the same tired, unsupported, meritless, quote unquote factual allegations that they raised a year ago when they tried this exact same motion before. It's the same daughter, she has the same job, that job has the same client list, they're doing the same things and Donald Trump is still an indicted former president. Facts haven't changed. In fact, the letter that was written by the Manhattan DA that I'll read to you, Matt Colangelo's letterhead for the Manhattan DA lawyer there, points out there's no new facts. points out there's no new facts. So I'll make it clear. I'll put it this way. If there was facts that Juan Marchand, the judge, was purposefully making decisions against Donald Trump and manipulating the administration of the justice system in order to benefit his daughter so that she could then use it for her client base of which she's a partner in a firm,

there's a bunch of other people there, but to benefit them to do ad campaigns and fundraising campaigns to put money in the pockets of her clients and therefore somehow she gets benefited. You see how attenuated this is? You see how many ridiculous links and speculative and conjectural links in the chain, this daisy chain of innuendos as they put it, so eloquently, a naked lawyer argument. You know, think about that mental image for a minute. And the judge doesn't have to go any further. As the Manhattan DA told the judge, you don't have to actually allow a motion. You can treat the pre-motion letter filed by Donald Trump, the one-page POS, as the kids say, that Todd Blanch filed, and our opposition, and treat that as fully briefed, and rule on the merits right now,

Judge, and you should rule against it, just as you did a year ago. Because the Judge, in cautious, judicious, sober fashion, took all the facts I just outlined for you. His daughter's position at Authentic Brands or Authentic in Chicago, their client base, the fact that she has no role, she's not a witness in the case, she has no direct involvement or indirect involvement in the case. And he laid out all those facts. And the Ethics Advisory Committee for Judges came back and wrote Judge Mershon a letter and said, you don't need to recuse or remove yourself because you don't have a conflicted interest here nor is there an appearance of impropriety, period.

And the judges had that in his back pocket ever since last August. And now the lawyers come to the court without any new evidence. As I said, if there was evidence that Juan Marchand did something wrong, that he was bending over backwards to benefit his daughter at the expense of the administration of justice and Donald Trump's due process rights, I'd be the first one to say throw the bum out, ride him out on a rail, but to continue to write incessant motions, meritless, bad faith motions because you just want to try to delay the trial. They know that Judge Marchand didn't do anything wrong. They know that Lauren Murchon doesn't have an interest

in the outcome of the case. They know that this is not the proper grounds for disqualification or accusal of a judge and they don't care. That's the point. That's why the judge already admonished the lawyers for Donald Trump, Todd Blanch and Susan Necklis that you guys have a habit of going beyond zealous advocates and into the world of bad faith filings. Don't do it again. And now they've done it again. Now while the Manhattan DA hasn't asked for sanctions, the judge on his own, in his inherent authority, sue espante as we say, can sanction the lawyers here for this kind of filing. I would. If I was the judge, I would say this is

exactly what you wrote last year. There's no new facts. You're just citing to a bunch of newspaper articles and some stories that were probably planted. And then you come to this courtroom and you say, aha, there's change conditions. There's new facts. There's new information when there is not. All right, Legal AFers, I need to tell you not just about any jeans, but the perfect jean. Today's sponsor, The Perfect Jean, finally solved all of your denim difficulties. They make great looking, perfect fitting jeans that are as comfortable as sweatpants.

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and tell them that we sent you. Forget your khakis and get the perfect jean. Now, let me read to you from the Manhattan DA filing and you'll get where this is all going. Dear Justice Murchon, the people respectfully submit this letter opposing Trump's April 1st, 2024 pre-motion letter seeking leave to file another motion for accusal based again on the court's family members' employment. It's already so attenuated even in the way I just described it. Defendant Trump has identified no change circumstances that warrant revisiting the

court's August 11, 2023 order, the one I just told you about. First, defendant asserts without citation. Now, let me give you a little side note here, a little sidebar. When a lawyer takes a dramatic position, a breathtaking position and doesn't cite to any case or fact or affidavit or sworn declaration or piece of evidence or anything, you can assume it's just made up. It's nothing more than naked argument of counsel. So, first defendant asserts without citation, the Manhattan DA continues, that, quote, authentic, that's Lauren Marchand's company, has used social media to market its connections to President Biden and Vice President Harris. Okay? That's their client base. While deriding President Trump. I don't know about deriding President

Trump, there's no evidence that they have done that. I mean, if all they're doing is pointing out the obvious, that there's 91 felony counts or a few less than that against Donald Trump, and he's about to go to trial in New York, that's just a matter of public record. The Manhattan DA paper goes on to say, this court and the advisory committee on judicial ethics have already determined that such a claim provides no basis for accusal, the claim based on nothing more than authentic Lauren Marchand's company's client list, the fact that she's employed effectively. They cite a quote from the ethicsics Opinion, quote,

our relatives in dependent political activities do not provide a reasonable basis to question the judge's impartiality. Second, defendants asserts again without citation that, quote, authentic has received millions of dollars from entities associated with defendants' political rivals. Okay, where's the facts to support that? And then you have to connect the dots and provide connective tissue to show how authentic receiving money benefits Lauren Mershon so that she has an interest and her father has a financial interest or an interest in the outcome of the trial against Donald Trump that's not attenuated. Listen to this next phrase, this is where the

daisy chain comes in. Defendant's own careful wording reveals the multiple attenuated factual leaps here that undercut any direct connection between authentic and this case. When you hear attenuated factual leaps, think a bridge too far. This is the daisy chain of innuendos coming. This is their argument, Trump's argument. Authentic has received money from entities, in quotes, whatever entities that means. Those entities, in quotes, are associated with politicians. No explanation for what associated with means. And those politicians have raised money based on this case. This daisy chain of innuendos is a far cry from evidence that this court has a quote, a direct personal substantial or pecuniary interest in reaching a particular conclusion, citing to a case called People vs Alomar from 1999 in New York. There is simply nothing new here,

the Manhattan DA continues, that would alter this court's prior conclusion that nothing about this proceeding will directly benefit Authentic, his daughter's company, or this court's family member, let alone this court. And then they go on to say the other attack on Judge Brachon is completely made up, that he's taken and said some extrajudicial comments about the case comments about the case Outside the case that would be like if a judge in a speech or an interview or at a coffee shop overheard starts talking badly about Donald Trump or about the case indicating that he is biased and has pre-judged the case But the very news article that Donald Trump cites his lawyers site

case. But the very news article that Donald Trump cites, his lawyer's cite, actually says the exact opposite of what their argument is because the reporter says that when he talked to the judge, all the judge said to him is that he would follow the law and there's no agenda here, but that according to the reporter, the judge refused to talk about the case. Well, if the judge refused to talk about the case, then how is he making extra judicial comments about the case that show bias? Right? And so the big problem for them is that the judge says he's going to follow the law and that he has no agenda. I don't want a judge who's going to follow the law and with no agenda. I want a judge who's not going to follow the law and has an agenda in my favor.

I mean, if this wasn't so sad and such an attack on our criminal justice system, I would think it's a script for a long lost movie of the Marx brothers. Aha! I want to judge who doesn't know the law. Come on. This all boils down to what I said at the top of the hot take. Donald Trump is upset that Juan Roshan's daughter has a job and he wants to get rid of Juan Roshan and he knows he can't do it.

He knows there's nothing that's going to stop the inevitable, which is the freight train of this case starting on the 15th of April. Here's what the judge is going to do. He's going to find, I believe, that these papers are enough between the people, Manhattan DA and Donald Trump, he doesn't need more briefing. He's going to deny the request to file the motion to remove him as judge. He's not going to certify that to allow for the appeal. And therefore, Donald Trump is going to be almost impossible for him to take an appeal

about this decision not to remove himself from the trial, and this case goes forward. Now, does that mean that Donald Trump doesn't think about ways now that the inevitable is here to pull the emergency brake on the freight train and try to derail the case? Sure he will. What could he do? He could fire his lawyers. He could say he has irreconcilable differences. He has irreconcilable differences with his lawyers and he has to get new ones, judge, and you can't let me go to trial with these people. And he could try to file that because he'll do anything just as he did on January 6th. When all else failed, he tried to burn down the Capitol. When all else fails here, in the 15th of April, they're picking a jury, he may try to fire his own lawyers.

His own lawyers have their own problem because the judge warned them already as officers of the court. If they cross the line from zealous advocacy into bad faith filings, there may be hell to pay. The judge is the same judge who just warned Donald Trump that he'll be facing criminal contempt, meaning jail time for violation of his new gag order that makes his family members off limits, family members of the judge and family members of the district attorney and others in the case, witnesses included, and a fine of $5,000 a day. This judge is not playing and if Donald Trump thinks he is,

he's in for a rude awakening. We'll continue to follow what happens in the machinations of Donald Trump and how in the cat and mouse game that the judge is in the driver's seat here. We'll follow it one place on Legal AF on the Midas Touch Network. I'll do it right here on hot takes like this one. And you can join us on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Eastern time on the Midas Touch Network on a show we call Legal AF. Join us. You'll find out why we call that. If you like the law and you want to learn more about it and then apply it as building blocks to what we do on Legal AF, then join our new Patreon, which is at patreon.com slash Legal AF. We'll do breakdowns and teachable moments and tutorials on the law all in one place for about the cost of two cups of coffee. Until my next hot take, until my next Legal AF,

this is Michael Popak reporting. Heary, heary. Legal AF law breakdown is now in session. Go beyond the headlines and get a deep dive into the important legal concepts you need to know and we discuss every day on Legal AF. Exclusive content you won't find anywhere else, all for the price of a couple of cups of coffee. Join us at patreon.com slash legal AF. That's patreon.com slash legal AF.