Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump BRIBING His Own Attorney?!

Episode Date: April 9, 2024

Is there a deal between Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche and Trump to reward Blanche with a plum DOJ position if Trump wins and Blanche keeps him from being convicted? Michael Popok examines some New York Times reporting that makes it appear that Blanche is working “on commission” for his client. Sign up at https://MoinkBox.com/LEGALAF and get FREE ground beef for a YEAR 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

Order up for Damien. Hey, how did your doctor's appointment go, by the way? Did you ask about Rebelsis? Actually, I'm seeing my doctor later today. Did you say Rebelsis? My dad's been talking about Rebelsis. Rebelsis? Really?

Yeah, he says it's a pill that's That's right. Did you know it's also covered by most private insurance plans? Well, I'll definitely be asking my doctor if Rebelsis is right for me. Rebelsis. Ask your doctor or visit Rebelsis.ca. Order up for Rebelsis.

This message comes from TD. Getting mortgage advice should be fast and easy, because when you want to buy a home, who has time to wait? TD Mortgage Direct makes it quick and easy to get the answers you need. Just answer a few questions and get personalized advice from a TD mortgage specialist. And you can get up to $4,100 with a new TD mortgage. Offer ends October 31, 2024. Conditions apply. Visit td.com slash tdmortgagedirect. Oh no, I can't be out of ink, not now! Megatank. Why do I do this to myself? Ah, what's that printer that comes with 30 times the ink?

Megatank. Yes, it's a Canon. Megaphone? Megatank. It's a Canon printer. It comes with like two grand worth of ink, prints me over 7,700 colored pages. Megatank. Megawatt?

Listen to the voice in your head and get a Canon Megatank printer so you don't have to think about ink for a long, long time. Visit canon.ca slash megatank for details. Only got small amounts of time but want big amounts of flavor? Knorr has got you. Our new Knorr Rice Cups deliver all the taste without the prep or wait time. We're talking yummy, creamy, hearty goodness. Choose from loads of delicious, Moorish flavors

ready in only two and a half minutes. It's not cup food, it's good food in a cup. Visit canor.com to learn more. Imagine yourself in Ottawa, surrounded by thousands of vibrant tulips. Oh. And discovering your new favorite micro-brew. Ah. Before cycling along scen vibrant tulips. Oh. And discovering your new favorite micro brew. Ah. Before cycling along scenic bike paths. Oh. And wandering through a museum in awe. Ah.

Adventure awaits in Ottawa from O to A. Plan your getaway at OttawaTourism.ca. The Michael Popak Legal AF. Your lawyers shouldn't be betting on you becoming president so that they can make you the Department of Justice's US attorney in New York. Is that what Todd Blanch is doing? The lawyer for Donald Trump who so aggressively and often inappropriately crosses the boundaries of decorum in a courtroom as he attacks mercilessly Judge Mershon presiding over the criminal case that starts on the 15th of April. That's what's been posited in a head-scratcher I've been talking about for a long time and maybe has been answered by the New York Times. I'll talk about that in a minute. I always wondered, I've said it on Legal AF over and over again, what compelled lawyers who at one time have

been considered at the top of their game like Chris Keiss or Todd Blanch to do almost the exact same thing at the exact same time, which is to leave their lucrative partnerships at well-established law firms, one in Florida for Chris Keiss, one in New York, well-known for Todd Blanch, and go out on their own to open up solo practitioner offices with one or two lawyers and a paralegal

with one dominant client, basically a captured law firm servicing Donald J. Trump. What would compel someone to do that? No, look, there's the obvious answer. It's green and it has president's pictures on it, money. That is the easiest answer and likely the most compelling one. But I've left a firm or two in my day to move on to better opportunities for me. So I'm not faulting somebody from trying to progress their career,

change its trajectory. But I do fault somebody if the reason they're doing it is they're trying to curry favor with a client who could get back into the White House in order to reward that person with his plum job. Now, there's no secret that Todd Blanch, after he left a 13-year run at the US Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York, which is considered to be the creme de la creme, the plum assignment within the Department of Justice. Other than working at Maine Justice in Washington, it is considered to be the most elite, the most prestigious of positions in the

entire country. You become the US attorney for the Southern District of New York and when you come out, you can write your own ticket financially. There's no way around it. I know a few of those people. Listen, if you're a high up deputy assistant US attorney or someone that headed one of their divisions, criminal division, civil division, appellate division, you can write your own ticket too. You control your own fate and your own destiny. The difference is the people that I know that occupied those positions weren't quitting their law firms, taking on one client in order to try to return that person to the White House and be rewarded as a result. Now, it's no secret, you can go on LinkedIn and find that Todd Blanch used to work at an old, what we call in New York,

old white shoe firm, mainline firm, silk stocking firm, Cadwallader, Cadwallader, Wickersham and Taft. Pretty sure Howard Taft who used to be our president and on the Supreme Court is the Taft in that title. So you know how old this law firm is, well established and all of that. I worked at a major Wall Street type New York law firm at one point, not on Wall Street. It doesn't have the history of Cadwallader. I mean, it's done pretty well for itself. It doesn't have the legacy of Cadwallader. Todd Blanch left the US Attorney's office after a 13-year run there and joined Ken Wallader to head up its white-collar department. Okay, I get all that. But the job apparently according to the reporting

in the New York Times led by Maggie Haberman, who else, Ben Protus, who else, and Alan Feuer, is that Todd Blanch has had his eye on the prize for a long time and that prize is to be the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, not just a high up assistant US attorney or part of the leadership there. And who appoints that position? The President of the United States. Who's his client? The President, former President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.

Now let's put some pieces together that were pieced together in the New York Times article. Firstly, Todd Blanch was a registered Democrat in New York before he started representing Donald Trump. And then somewhere in the conversion process, the ring kissing process, the secret handshake process he converted into a Republican based in Florida owning a home near Mar-a-Lago through a feat of alchemy. How did that happen? Now he's a Republican. Is that a litmus test that's a requirement

to represent Donald Trump? You have to change parties? Apparently it was. Or at least he thought, well, if my client ever gets back into a position of power, it might be a good idea for me in his party. Now, I'm not claiming that I know that Todd Blanchett is MAGA. I'd be shocked if he was. I think he's an opportunist. I think he's a person who's very focused on his career. And he knows that he had to pick a side in this fight for our

democracy and he picked the side. We on this network think it's the wrong side. We think it's the side that will lead to chaos and fascism. But to Todd, Todd Blanchett of the world who, listen, I don't know how big his book of business was when he was at Cadwallader. He had a reputation. He was there for a few years. Was he bringing in 10, 15, 20, 30 million dollars a year in order to get himself a very high seven-figure paycheck? I don't know. I don't

know about that. Not every former assistant US attorney is successful at rainmaking and bringing in business. I'll put it this way. If he was that successful and had a stable group of institutional clients like banks, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, I'm not sure he'd be toiling representing Donald Trump after so many people had quit. I mean, the people that are left representing Donald Trump after the first wave, the first, the varsity team that all got convicted is now the JV. It's not people, I think, that had established business books and they were willing to jeopardize that and their firms were certainly not willing to jeopardize it. Chris Keiss worked at a firm I used to work at million years ago and in their Tallahassee office, because before he met Donald Trump, he was primarily known for being married to an appellate judge and having been an appellate

judge and sort of an administrative regulatory capacity kind of appellate lawyer and an administrative regulatory type capacity in the capital of Florida, Tallahassee. And he'd been the general counsel for Rick Scott, I believe, as the governor of Florida. And has been sort of known in the halls and hallways and smoky back rooms of Tallahassee, Florida. It's a mover and shaker, somebody you want on your side, somebody who can move the levers of power, especially those that are in the hands of Republicans. But Chris Keist became a whole different person after, like Todd Blanch, within months of doing so, left his law firm and established his own law practice with an

office in Florida and an office in New York. Todd Blanch, the person I've been talking at length about, went even further. He at one time was just renting space from his client, Donald Trump. It just shows you how the little book of business that he had. I don't think Todd Blanch had to fire anybody in order to take on Donald Trump. I don't think he had many clients. So when his main and only client in what's become a captured or captive law firm needs space, of course, you take it in 40 Wall Street, the building that may be on the chopping block, and on the auction block,

courtesy of the New York Attorney General, the civil fraud case. What if you could support small family farmers and reduce your environmental imprint all while enjoying the highest quality meat on earth? When you join the monk movement, you can. Moink delivers grass-fed and grass-finfed beef and lamb, pastured pork and chicken, and sustainable wild-caught salmon straight to your door. Moink farmers farm like our grandparents did. And as a result, Moink meat tastes

like it should because the family farm does it better and the Moink difference is a difference you can taste. Unlike the supermarket, Moink gives you total control over the quality and source of your food. You choose the meat delivered in every box, like rib-eyes, to chicken breasts, to pork chops, to salmon filets, and much more. Plus, you can cancel any time. Moink is helping save rural America.

I love it, and you will too. Join the Moink movement today. Shark Tank host Kevin O'Leary called Moink's bacon the best bacon he's ever tasted. And Ring Doorbell founder Jamie Siminoff, he jumped at the chance to invest in Moink. Plus, they guarantee you'll say, Oink, oink, I'm just so happy I got Moinked. I know I do, and you will too.

Keep American farming going by signing up at moinkbox.com slash legal AF right now. And listeners of this show get free bacon for a year. That's one year of the best bacon you'll ever taste, but for a limited time. Spelled M-O-I-N-K, box.com slash legal AF. That's moinkbox.com slash legal AF. So it's a very incestuous set of relationships here and maybe a quid pro quo that's being outlined in the New York Times. I mean, the headline alone in the paper edition of the New York Times is

Trump's lawyer Blanche gambled, gilded Manhattan career to represent him. I think it's a little bit of an overstatement. He certainly had a very, he was certainly very well respected when he was on the prosecutor's side. And when he left, there were many, many firms in town that were trying to get him to join. I know that for a fact. He chose a good one. It's not what I would have considered one of the top elite white collar departments, but a lot of those white collar criminal defense departments within major top law firms already have a head. And some of these other firms want to kind of get into the business. So they hire somebody like Todd Blanche and have them say, oh, here's the keys to the kingdom. You can be the head of the white collar department.

That's I'm giving you a little bit of an insider knowledge of how big firms, big American lawyer top five, top 10 law firms work. And so, Ken Wallader probably either lost somebody recently or wanted to expand their department or wanted to make a big splash with having Todd Blanch join. He was there for several years. Now, Todd Blanch, back to him for a minute, just to show you that he's sort of been crossing the line as quickly morphing into his client before our very eyes. Todd Blanch that I knew by reputation would never have been battling it out with Judge Marchand or filing the papers that he's filing on behalf of Donald Trump. It just would be beneath him. But nothing seems to be beneath the Trump lawyers these days,

including attacking, including defending their client, attacking the judge's daughter and filing what I consider to be baseless motions to have the judge removed because he happens to have a daughter, she happens to have a job, and she happens to have a First Amendment right to represent people on the Democratic side. That's basically the entire case. To hear Todd Blanch go after at every turn the prosecutors in the Manhattan DA's office, which are basically his colleagues, but I'll tell you straight from talking to my podcast co-anchor and friend, Karen Freeman McNifilo, that I know from my own experience, you know, federal prosecutors kind of look down their nose at state prosecutors. You know, there is a food chain or a hierarchy, at least in their heads. And they think they're the apex predator in the world

of prosecutors at the Department of Justice and the US Attorney's Office. While the Manhattan DA gets along and often coordinates with the Southern District of New York or the Eastern District of New York out of Brooklyn as divisions of the Department of Justice, I'll just put it this way, the feds think that they're you know what, doesn't you know what. Fill in the blank. It's like Wheel of Fortune, but legal AF stuff. So you have him doing battle like for instance recently, Judge Marchand after Blanche accused the judge of judge misconduct and accused the Manhattan DA of prosecutorial misconduct over some subpoenaed documents that Trump and therefore Blanche was late in requesting himself having caused his own prejudice if there was any. The judge stopped him.

He said, let me ask you something. People know Blanche just like in the city. Mr. Blanche, what did you do before you became a private attorney? He said, I was in the US Attorney's Office, your honor, Southern District of New York. He said proudly. I said, okay. How many years were you there? He said, 13. Okay. Well, then you know in 13 years of being in the Southern District of New York as an assistant US attorney, you know how difficult it is and how long the process takes to

subpoena documents from your old office. And despite that, you waited until, I don't know, three weeks before the trial was about to start, to don't know, three weeks before the trial was about to start, start your process, four weeks before the trial. So I don't want to hear about prosecutorial misconduct or judge misconduct when you don't have any of the evidence for that. Then you should, he basically, you know, he didn't say it quite like this,

but the way it came out to Blanche and to observers was, you should be ashamed of yourself. And Blanche, according to other courtroom watchers, was surprised that the judge went after him that way. But welcome to major leagues, Mr. Blanche. If you want to try to represent your way all the way to becoming the US attorney for the Southern District of New York by representing Donald Trump, we get to talk about it here on Legal AF on the Midas Touch Network. I'll continue to do that on the hot takes like this one at the intersection of law and politics. And then we pull it all together. We curate a podcast we call Legal AF. Join us on Wednesdays and

Saturdays right here on the Midas Touch Network. You'll find out why we call it that. And then until my next hot take then, until my next Legal AF, this is Michael Popak reporting. where 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.