Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Secrets of Trump Destroying CBS Finally Revealed

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

Trump is covering up torture again. Based on a newly leaked internal 60 Minutes memo, the Trump Administration used its power over CBS’ parent company to “spike” and “veto” an investigative report that was to air this past weekend about the torture prison of El Salvador virtually run by the Administration, and 60 Minutes journalists are resigning in protest. Michael Popok reports on Trump’s continued assault on corporate media to bury the uncomfortable truths of his policies. Indacloud: If you’re 21 or older, get 25% OFF your first order + free shipping @IndaCloud with code LEGALAF at https://inda.shop/LEGALAF! #indacloudpod Subscribe:  @LegalAFMTN  Visit https://meidasplus.com for more! Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: ⁠https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast⁠ Legal AF: ⁠https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af⁠ MissTrial: ⁠https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial⁠ The PoliticsGirl Podcast: ⁠https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast⁠ Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum with Dr. Steve Hassan: ⁠https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan⁠ Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: ⁠https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen⁠ The Weekend Show: ⁠https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show⁠ Burn the Boats: ⁠https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats⁠ Majority 54: ⁠https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54⁠ Political Beatdown: ⁠https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown⁠ On Democracy with FP Wellman: ⁠https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman⁠ Uncovered: ⁠https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Independent journalism is under attack. No, I'm not just talking about legal layoff in the Midas Dutch Network, 60 minutes. According to a correspondent, a senior correspondent there, Sharon Alfonzi, and a newly released internal memo protesting the spiking of her story this past Sunday to cover the torture prison of Seekot in El Salvador, the Trump administration's virtual control over it, having interviewed hundreds of prisoners at great courage and risk to do it. That story, according to the reporter, was spiked by Barry Weiss. The new editor-in-chief of CBS brought in after Donald Trump settled with CBS

and with its parent company, Paramount, to the tune of up to $30 million, required them to have an ombudsperson on board, and hire a new head of 16 Minutes in CBS News in the form of Barry Weiss, all because his buddy, Donald Trump's buddy, Larry Ellison's Nepo baby son, David Ellison, was buying the channel. Suddenly, all the approvals that were being threatened suddenly came flying out. And then when the first important story for 60 minutes came out, just a couple of months after the settlement, it gets killed. It gets spiked by 60 minutes. And thank God for Sharon Alfonzi coming forward.

that memo is now public. I'm going to read it to you here on the Midas Touch Network. And you can see the context that we're talking about. We're on YouTube. We're on podcasts. We're not regulated by Donald Trump. We don't have outside investors. You see what happens when an amazing reporter courageously, like Sharon Alfonzi, tries to do a story to tell the American people about other human beings being tortured and the Trump administration being complicit in it. And they get a veto because, quote, unquote, they wouldn't be interviewed for the story. How many 60 minutes exposés and investigative reporting had an element of it where the correspondent, whether it was Mike Wallace, the late great Mike Wallace or someone else,

looked at the camera and said, we asked for a comment from the government and we couldn't provide it. Sometimes you can get the gotcha and sometimes you can't. It can't be the, well, we can't get an interview, therefore, you know, two sides. No, it's investigative journalism, Barry Weiss. You don't need two sides to the story. You just need enough corroborating evidence and witnesses to tell your truth. And according to Sharon Alfonci, this got vetted five times, including by legal at CBS before it was about to air this Sunday. That page is now down.

You go to that CBS page. That page is down. I'm Michael Popak. We're up. We're on Midas Touch. Hit the free subscribe button here. And thank you for everyone that contributed to Legal AF YouTube channel getting to 1 million subscribers this week.

this weekend in just about a year's time. Let me read to you from Sharon Alfonci's missive, her memo, her broadside against her employer. At great, I am sure, at great sacrifice and personal risk. Invitation to Sharon Alfonci, something goes wrong in 60 minutes. Come over to Midas Dutch. Come over to legal AF. Let's talk. Here's what's been reported from her memo,

posted by Sharon, by Brian Stelter, news team. This is her internal memo. Thank you for the notes and text. I apologize for not reaching out earlier. I learned on Saturday that Barry Weiss spiked our story inside Seacott, which was supposed to air tonight. We asked for a call to discuss her decision. She did not afford us that courtesy or opportunity. Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and standards and practices. There's also an ombuds person that Donald Trump forced them as part of the settlement over the 60 minutes interview with Kamala Harris, where he didn't like the editing around her responses. They settled for $30 million, including $15 million worth of propaganda public service announcements for the Trump administration. That's why we said Tiffany Network done, CBS done, 60 minutes done. We said that several months ago.

Here's Exhibit A, everybody. First major story, critical of the Trump administration, kill switch. Here's what the reporter said. We requested responses to question and or interviews with Department of Homeland Security, the White House, State Department, government silence is a statement, not a veto. Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story. Listen to these words, she wrote. If the administration's refusal to participate becomes a valid

reason to spike a story, we've effectively handed them a kill switch for any reporting they find inconvenient. If the standard for airing a story becomes the government must agree to be interviewed, then the government gains control over the 60 minutes broadcast. We go from investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state, a propagandist. These men, she means the seat-caught prisoners and the reporters risk their lives to speak with us. We have a moral and professional obligation to the sources who entrusted us with their stories. Abandoning them now is a portrayal of the most basic tenet of journalism giving voice to the voiceless. We know that torture is going on there because Armando Abrago Garcia, Armando Abrago Garcia, the only guy to get out of there and be able

to have, get back to the United States because of the Supreme Court ruling in his favor, his lawyers said in their filings that upon arrival at the Seekot prison, he was tortured upon arrival. Multiply that by thousands, including sexual abuse. That was going to be the story of inside Seacot. And we already know from prior filings in the two lawsuits involving Abrago Garcia, including from the U.N. and responses from El Salvador to the U.N. Human Rights Watch that the Trump administration effectively controls what happens in Seacot prison with its own detainees. There were 250 Venezuelan detainees. They're not being tortured any longer in Seacot prison because they got exchanged by Donald Trump in a prisoner swap with Venezuela, a country we are

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older, visit indecloud.co and use code legal a.f for 25% off plus free shipping. That's Indicloud.com, code legal AF for 25% off free shipping and one less headline in your head. Enjoy responsibly. And thanks to Indicloud for sponsoring today's much needed quiet. Now she also, rightly so, sticks her finger in the wound of 60 minutes about what happened 30 years ago in the Jeffrey Wigand story, which is famously portrayed by Russell Crow in a movie and a book called The Insider about the tobacco industry,

that he was ready to go public as a scientist within the tobacco industry to talk about how the tobacco industry have been manipulating nicotine levels in order to get people addicted. Mike Wallace, famous, now deceased reporter, journalist for 60 Minutes, was going to run a whole story.

And the legal department at 60 Minutes killed it because of big, tobacco. They eventually released the story. They almost ruined Wigand's life and all those associated with it, including Don Uitt, the producer. And that was a huge black eye on that, quote, unquote, Tiffany Network in 60 minutes. Did they learn their lesson? No. She and Sharon Alfonzi reminds them of that in the memo when she says, CBS spiked the Jeffrey Wigand interview due to legal concerns, nearly destroying the credibility of this broadcast, it took years to recover from that low point. By pulling this story to shield an administration, we're repeating that history.

But for political optics rather than legal ones, I care too much about this broadcast, she writes. We're trading 50 years of gold standard reputation for a single week of political quiet, as if somebody else isn't going to run this story. Here's what Senator Markey had to say about it last night. He said, this is what government. government censorship looks like Trump approved the Paramount Skydance merger, right? He used his FCC Federal Communications Commission chairperson, Brendan Carr, to threaten the licenses of CBS over the 60 minutes interview. He then weighed in with his big fat thumb in the transaction and got a settlement

with 60 minutes and CBS as a condition of approving the merger. Let's be frank. Marky, Senator Markey says a few months later, CBS News's editor-in-chief kills a deeply reported story critical of Trump, a sad day for 60 minutes, and journalism. And similarly, Brian Chats, he said, what is happening to CBS is a terrible embarrassment. And if executives think they can build shareholder value by avoiding journalism that might offend the mad king, they're about to learn a tough lesson. This is still America, and we don't enjoy bullshit like this. Do you see why we created the Midas Dutch Network five, six years ago? Why we created legal AF, the YouTube channel over a year ago, why collectively almost seven million people get their news and

information, especially about law and politics, from these channels. You see, you can't trust 60 minutes. I'm not blaming Sharon Alfonso. We, Alfonci, we knew this was going to happen when the settlement happened. We just didn't know what happened this quickly and this publicly about this particular issue. This is a Stephen Miller special too, because Stephen Miller, within the Trump administration, is the architect of all things alien enemies act, the detention and removal of people working with Homeland Security. Yes, you can blame Christy Nome, but it's really Stephen Miller. He's the domestic president for this particular issue.

And I'm sure he's the one that spiked the story, made the phone call. Barry Weiss, she was brought in particularly from quote-unquote new media to take over 60 minutes, to take over the journalistic integrity there. She doesn't even have the courtesy or the balls to meet with her chorus. to say why the story is being spiked. Instead, they come out with, it needs more reporting. It was about to go live on Sunday, you Nimrod.

You want us to believe it needed more reporting? From who? From the interview that's never going to be granted by the Trump administration, hence the kill switch that the reporter, the correspondent is talking about. We're going to follow it closely here. We're glad you're here on Midas Dutch.

And again, thank you so much for the bottom of our heart, for helping make a legal A.F. YouTube cross the 1 million subscriber threshold. We have over 400 million reviews. We've only been up and running a year. We've got a full slate of interviews and reporting for you today and commentary. 10 videos every day, new videos every day up on legal A.F. Take a moment, hit the subscribe button below. Until my next report, I'm Michael Pupac. Can't get your fill of legal AF. Me neither. That's why we formed the legal AF substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument. Come over to

the substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do call, wait for it, morning A.F. What else? All the other contributors from LegalAF are there as well. We got some new reporting. We got interviews. We got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes where legal A-F on substack. Come over now to free subscribe. Thank you.