Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump Admin Skewered by Pissed Off Judge & Orders Gag

Episode Date: October 29, 2025

In breaking news, a federal judge in the Abrego Garcia criminal case has gagged AG Pam Bondi, Border Czar Tom Homan, Homeland Security Sec Kristie Noem, and the rest of the Trump Administration from m...aking public statements about Garcia’s case undermining his 6th Amendment right to a fair trial, AND has ordered that the Government produce all documents about prosecutors who quit rather than indict Garcia. Michael Popok also reports on Judge Xinis efforts to prevent Garcia from being removed to Liberia in the meantime by a vindictive government. Subscribe:  @LegalAFMTN  Jones Road: Use code LEGALAF at https://jonesroadbeauty.com to get a Free Cool Gloss with your first purchase! #JonesRoadBeauty #ad 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 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

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Now streaming on Paramount Plus is the epic return of Mayor of Kingstown. Warden? You know who I am. Starring Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner. I swear in these walls. Emmy Award winner Edie Falco. You're an ex-con who ran this place for years. And now, now you can't do that. And BAFTA Award winner Lenny James.
Starting point is 00:00:20 You're about to have a plague of outsiders descend on your town. Let me tell you this. It's going to be consequences. Mayor of Kingstown, new season now streaming on Paramount Plus. We got some breaking and developing news in the Ibrago-Garcia case. He's waging a fight for his life on two fronts, one in a criminal case in Tennessee, one in a civil liberties case in Maryland. We've got some developments in both, starting with Judge Crenshaw in Tennessee,
Starting point is 00:00:46 is effectively gagged, Pam Bondi, the Department of Justice, Homeland Security, and everybody else not named Donald Trump, from continuing to talk about the case in the media violating his Abrago-Garcia's Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial. This is where there's a tension between the First Amendment and the Sixth Amendment. You have a First Amendment right in general, but it is subordinate to the Sixth Amendment right of a criminal defendant presumed innocent to a fair trial. And so certain things that you say out loud,
Starting point is 00:01:17 and I've got the receipts, I've got the clips, you can say generally, but you can't say when you're a prosecutor or you're on the other side of a case against a criminal defendant, plain and simple. we see a balancing act by Judge Crenshaw. At the same time, he wants to get to the bottom of in discovery, meaning the documents provided by the government, as to why Abrago Garcia's being, was indicted at all. How did it go, as the judge put it from, deport him, but don't prosecute him, to prosecute him, and then deport him. Who made that decision? I want to see the emails. What about the missing lawyers? The lawyers who were fired or were.
Starting point is 00:01:58 walked out the door. The judge in camera, meaning in his own review, wants to see documents drafted by Ben Schrader, who walked off the case because he refused to indict the Abrago Garcia. He wants to see all the Ben Schrader documents right away. And then in Maryland, Judge Zinnis is getting to the bottom of why he's being sent, why Abrago Garcia is being sent to Liberia of all places. Is this more of his vindictive behavior by the government? And so we have a hearing there as well. And we've got a curious case of another missing lawyer, Bridget K. Ohicki, who filed a motion to withdraw or strike her appearance. I want to talk about that in a working theory I have.
Starting point is 00:02:48 I'm going to do it all right here on the Midas Touch Network and on Legal A.F. Thanks for being here. Take a minute to subscribe to the Legal A.F. YouTube channel and, of course, here on Midas Touch. All right, let's start with this battle that's going on on two battlefields by Abrago Garcia. He's represented by lawyers, Sean Hecker out of New York. Abrago Garcia, you may recall, in March was illegally, that's the words of the Supreme Court, sent to the torture prisons of El Salvador when he should not have been sent to El Salvador at all because he had an American U.S. immigration judge order keeping him in the United States
Starting point is 00:03:24 and certainly not sending him ever to El Salvador. It took multiple orders, including 9-0 from the Supreme Court, to get Obrego-Garcia back to the United States. But even then, the Department of Justice indicted him on smuggling or, sorry, on smuggling or trafficking, sorry, charges, human trafficking charges in Tennessee based on a traffic stop from three years ago where he didn't even get a speeding ticket. So we have Judge Crenshaw there. that case is going to trial
Starting point is 00:03:58 in the meantime the lawyers are trying to get the government to shut the heck up and stop talking out loud ruining his ability to get a fair trial and that was up for grabs with the judge and discovery the fact that the government
Starting point is 00:04:14 has only produced one piece of paper about the vindictive prosecution motion that's pending they're going to a hearing on November 4 and 5 I'm hoping that Judge Zinnis make sure that Abrago Garcia is not in Liberia at that time. Here's what the judge said in his memorandum opinion
Starting point is 00:04:31 about the Sixth Amendment right that's under attack by the government. Then I'm going to play you a couple of clips. This is what he says here. He says that Abrago Garcia rightly notes that a trial by an impartial jury is, he's entitled to that and that pervasive and inflammatory
Starting point is 00:04:50 pretrial publicity might compromise this fundamental right. The court, finds that there was a clear and present danger to Abrago's Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial and trying to balance the First Amendment right of people to speak freely with the Sixth Amendment right. He strikes the balance. But he focuses on statements that are made by Pam Bondi, Tomon, and Christy Noem. And I'm going to show you the clips. Here's the clips that concern the judge and that are the basis for the motion. Let's play Bondi first.
Starting point is 00:05:18 Our government presented El Salvador with an arrest warrant and they agreed to return him to our country. We're grateful to President Buckele for agreeing to return him to our country to face these very serious charges. This is what American justice looks like. Upon completion of his sentence, we anticipate he will be returned to his home country of El Salvador. The grand jury found that over the past nine years of Rego Garcia has played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring. They found this was his full-time job, not a contractor. He was a smuggler of humans and children and women. He made over a hundred trips, the grand jury found, smuggling people throughout our country, MS-13 members, violent gang terrorist organization members throughout
Starting point is 00:06:23 out our country. Thousands of illegal aliens were smuggled. This is especially disturbing because Abrago Garcia is also alleged with transporting minor children. The defendant traded the innocence of minor children for profit. There are even more disturbing facts that the grand jury uncovered. It is alleged this defendant is part of the same smuggling ring responsible for the death of more than 50 migrants in 2021 after the tractor trailer overturned in Mexico. This is part of that same ring.
Starting point is 00:07:09 The defendant abused undocumented alien females, according to co-conspirators, who were under his control while transporting them throughout our country. This defendant trafficked firearms and narcotics throughout our country on multiple occasions. They were using vehicles, SUVs, with added seats in the back, floors that had been ripped out, guns, narcotics, children, women, MS-13 members. That is what the grand jury found. A co-conspirator alleged that the defendant solicited nude photographs and videos of a minor. A co-conspirator also alleges the defendant played a role in the murder of a rival gang member's mother. These facts demonstrate Abrago Garcia is a danger to our community. Okay, she's the head of the Department of Justice.
Starting point is 00:08:14 And the judge is very concerned, for instance, that she is commenting. erroneously and in an inflammatory way about evidence in the case, about the defendant in the case, and violating all the rules about fair trial. Do you hate heavy, caked-on makeup the way it feels and the way it looks? I know I do. That's why I'm so excited about this new sponsor, Jones Road. Jones Road has this amazing new product that is healthy for your skin. It doesn't clog your pores. It's easy to use. And it comes in this nice little pack that's easy to take with you when you travel. So it gives you a natural look. It doesn't give you that caked-on look and it doesn't feel bad on your skin. You can use it as a as a lip tint,
Starting point is 00:08:59 as a blush, as a bronzer, a highlighter. I of course use all of the above. And it just fits into my lifestyle and gives me that natural look that I like to have. All of Jones Road formulas are clean and high-performing without any of the bad ingredients that you don't want in your makeup. And And clean beauty is obviously a no-brainer. And they don't just have their famous miracle bomb. They've built a full line of effortless skin first staples, like they're just enough tinted moisturizer, a lightweight non-comedogenic formula that smooths an even skin's tone with a soft touch and coverage.
Starting point is 00:09:37 It hides redness. It looks natural and feels like nothing on your skin. So it's packed with skin friendly ingredients to keep skin moisturized without clogging your pores. That's one of my favorite parts as well. So it looks great. It feels great. And your pores don't get clogged. What more could you ask for? This is a modern day makeup that's clean, strategic, and multifunctional for effortless routines. And so for a limited time offer, our listeners are getting a free cool glass on their first purchase when they use code legal A.F at checkout.
Starting point is 00:10:07 That's a free cool gloss. So head to Jones Roadbeautcom and use code legal AF at checkout. And after you purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them. and please support our show. Thank you, Jones Road. She's not the only one. We then had Tom Homan. The boarder czar who was caught in a bribery sting himself just recently and took a $50,000 bribe,
Starting point is 00:10:29 but he's out talking about somebody else's criminality and ethics. Here's a clip from Tom Homan that the judge doesn't like. We removed an MS-13 gang member, public safety threat, wife-beater, designated terrorist from the United States. I mean, again, you can tell they're all reading from the same script, right? Same palm card.
Starting point is 00:10:56 Wife beater, child molester, child trafficker. I mean, first of all, it's all wrong. There have been judges that have looked at the file and have looked at the record, including Judge Holmes, who's the magistrate judge in Tennessee, and she found none of this to be credible, none of this to be true. Let's just start with the charges.
Starting point is 00:11:13 He's not been charged with human, trafficking. He's been charged with human smuggling. And there is a difference, right? Trafficking is suggests that the person is being captured, kidnapped, and trafficked against their will. Smuggling is, can you get me across the border? You know, and that's a different, and even the law recognized that as being different. Let's watch Christine Nome in action, also troubling to the judge. Let's play that clip. And last but not least that I'll highlight here individually today is we all remember the story of Kilmar Obrego Garcia, the MS-13 member. He was a human trafficker, a domestic abuser, a criminal illegal alien, and a national of El Salvador, and a member of MS-13. The mainstream
Starting point is 00:12:00 media consistently tries to defend this individual as an innocent Maryland man, but I will be very clear this man has a history and decades-long ties to a gang that has been convicted of human trafficking and he himself has been deeply tied to those horrific charges and criminal activities. He's here in Nashville currently on federal charges for human trafficking. And the grand jury's indictment describes a monster. Abrago was a full-time human trafficker who would brutally abuse women under his control and even solicited individuals for child pornography. And then he's very concerned also on page three of his order about press releases. They said on April 16th, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security issued a press release.
Starting point is 00:12:48 The real story, Kilmer Abrago Garcia is an MS-13 gang member with a history of violence. In that release, Homeland Security cited the following fast facts. When Garcia was arrested, he was found with rolls of cash and drugs, improperly commenting about evidence. He was arrested with two other members of MS-13. That's not true. When arrested, he was wearing a sweatshirt with rolls of men, money covering the ears, mouth, and eyes of presidents on various currency denominations.
Starting point is 00:13:19 An MS-13 gang symbol. Two judges found that he was a member of MS-13. That finding has not been disturbed. That's false. Intelligence reports found that he was involved in human trafficking. False. They found that he was involved with human smuggling. And now the judge says on page seven about all these statements as discussed above government employees have made extrajudicial statements meaning outside the courtroom that are troubling especially when many of them are exaggerated if not simply inaccurate these statements made allegations regarding abregos character or reputation and express government officials views on abrogos guilt or innocence which are all improper about a ms 13 gang member human trafficker serial domestic abuser and child
Starting point is 00:14:08 predator and and it goes on and he is locking down those kind of future statements separately he's required that the government provide in camera meaning for the court's review uh everything that was written by prosecutors who are no longer there and why they're no longer there okay did they get fired because they wouldn't bring a false charge against the brago garcia that's what the judge is trying to get to the bottom of. Let me flip over to Judge Zinnis for a minute. In Judge Zinnis, there was a notice late on Friday from the government just said notice, which is what the which is what Zinnis required. She has right now Braga Garcia under lock and key in Virginia and she's keeping an eye on him. They gave notice that by October the 31st, they plan on
Starting point is 00:15:01 deporting him, removing him to Liberia. Okay. Judge called a conference She wants to brief, she doesn't want him going anywhere, she wants it briefed, and she certainly doesn't want him going anywhere before the November 4th and 5th hearing in front of Judge Crenshaw about whether the indictment is phony and should be dismissed for vindictive prosecution. Then there's the curious case of another Department of Justice lawyer who has disappeared, Bridget O'Hickey. Now, this is a case where
Starting point is 00:15:36 one of the major lawyers on the case originally, Erez Ruvani, got fired by the Department of Justice because he told the truth to this Judge Zinnis that the removal of O'Bringo Garcia was illegal and then he got promptly fired. Bridget O'Hickey did terribly in court in front of Judge Zinnis just about two months ago where she couldn't, I know about a month ago,
Starting point is 00:16:03 where she couldn't answer any questions being asked by the judge. The judge got frustrated. She had to keep going back and forth. I mean, it's no wonder because Bridget O'Hickey just came out of the Florida Attorney General's office. She'd never been in the Department of Justice. She'd never been on this case before. This is who they put, this crash test dummy, sorry, they put her in, feed her to the wolves so she doesn't know anything. You know? Listen, I've been practicing for a long time. I can't tell you how many times. Judges have made it clear in their own unique way. They do not like lawyers appearing in front of them who don't know the file and aren't the senior lawyers on the case.
Starting point is 00:16:43 And that's all the Department of Justice is trotting out. Low-level people with no experience hoping that they'll be able to get through a hearing in peace intact but not reveal anything. And that got called out by Judge Zinnis. And now this particular lawyer is gone. I'm sure there's a backstory about Bridget O'Hickey, I will keep an eye on it and keep you posted. In the meantime, I'm glad you're here on Midas Touch. Come over to LegalAF YouTube, hit the free subscribe button. We're going to hit a million subscribers in the next month if it kills me. But with your help, we'll do it. And then, of course, LegalAF substack as well, where with a $6 paid subscription a month, you'll keep us on the air and keep all that content coming to you. So until my next
Starting point is 00:17:24 report, I'm Michael Popak. Can't get your fill of LegalAF. Me neither. That's why we form 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 in 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 legal a.f 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.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.