Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump Co-Defendant THROWS HIM UNDER THE BUS in Court and NO ONE Saw It Coming

Starting point is 00:00:00 Michael Popack, legal AF, you know, things aren't going well for you or for Donald Trump. When his lawyers today in federal court were caught in a hot mic whisper to a colleague saying, this is not good. And then this is not good was referring to the arguments being raised by Jeff Clark, the disgraced former Department of Justice environmental lawyer who Donald Trump ended up using at some point as a smoke screen through the Department of Justice to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power, based on a letter that Jeff Clark wrote on letterhead of the Department of Justice basically asking that the different states like Georgia not certify the election because the Department of Justice had found fraud. That was a lie, it was based on a lie, and that letter was in furtherance of a lie.

Starting point is 00:00:48 But today, the lawyer for Jeff Clark, Harry McDougal, too, we've not spoken too much about, said that Trump ordered his client to do it. Trump instructed his client to write that letter. And that alone makes makes uh, makes for a good basis to transfer the case your honor from state to federal court. To which the judge, Stephen Jones, because there was no evidence of that presented. And this is an evidentiary hearing requiring get this evidence to be presented. And since Harry McDougal's client, Jeff Clark refused to testify, waved his right to testify,

Starting point is 00:01:28 and tried to submit a declaration on a piece of paper instead that the judge quickly dismissed and dispatched, because that's not how it works in federal court. You have to be cross-examined if you're gonna give testimony. You can't just submit a one-sided affidavit. Sit back and say, see, I didn't do anything wrong.

Starting point is 00:01:44 Or I was acting within the course and scope of my federal power. So let me go to federal court. You got to show up, carry your burden of getting your case transferred, which course Jeff Clark didn't do, but worse. And the reason Steven Seidow is rubbing his hands and saying this isn't good is because the lawyer said out loud

Starting point is 00:02:04 that Donald Trump instructed his client to send that letter. Even Stephen Jones, the judge was incredulous. He said, you have any evidence of that? And Harry said, no. He said, do you even have evidence of the timeline? When was the letter written before or after your client met with Donald Trump privately in the White House?

Starting point is 00:02:24 And Harry didn't know the answer to that. So that's not great, by the way. We need you to carry your burden. And then the judge said, and coming up with his own thought process, let me get this straight. Why would this lower level department of justice official even come inside the ambit, the orbit of Donald Trump.

Starting point is 00:02:45 Isn't it more likely that Donald Trump learned about your client after he wrote the letter? Because he liked what the letter was was talking about and speaking to and Harry didn't have a great answer for that. So you got to come with the answers, Harry, when you're given a case like this, if you're not going to bring evidence, you're not going to let your client testify because they saw what happened to Mark Meadows who had his head handed to him by the judge and he waved his fifth amendment privilege trying to get to federal court They weren't going to make that same mistake They made a whole series of other mistakes including submitting Evidence by way of affidavit that was rejected and banned by the judge and precluded by the judge for going into evidence. And then most of the time that the lawyer for Jeff Clark spent on trying to

Starting point is 00:03:31 I guess convince the judge that the case should go to federal court was spent arguing that it was a draft letter. I mean, there's other things in the indictment that that Jeff Clark is indicted for for his role. Conversations that he had in further into the conspiracy. It's not just one thing, but the biggest thing I'll admit is the Department of Justice letterhead letter that he sent around in an email draft in which the Department of Justice was going to officially take the position under the environmental department head that the elections had, the election had fraud in it, that the department of justice had issues with the integrity of the election in Georgia and the other six battleground states, even though he had been told by the head

Starting point is 00:04:17 of cybersecurity for the United States election process, Chris Krebs, by every lawyer that looked at the issue by his superiors that there was no, there was no evidence of fraud. He was going to put it in the letter anyway. And they made a big thing today, Harry, Harry McDougal, for Jeff Clark made a big thing today by saying it was a draft, it was never sent, it was internal. You can't criminalize that. You know, that's just, that's just stuff that they're supposed to do when their lawyers, they're cogitating, they're ruminating, they're marinating about topics. Can't criminalize that? Can you, to which the lawyer for Fony Willis' team said to the judge, that sounds like, that sounds a lot,

Starting point is 00:05:02 like attempted crime. And attempted, it wasn't perfected yet, but it got to the part of being drafted and almost sent. And that is an attempted crime, to which the judge nodded feverishly in agreement and said, right, that's an attempted crime. Just because he didn't hit send and it never got out, doesn't mean it wasn't in furtherance of the conspiracy,

Starting point is 00:05:25 it wasn't used to bolster the conspiracy. Many of you may not know this, but I'm about to embark on an amazing life-altering event. See, we build up our lives with bright moments of joy, pride and success, and how every defined those moments, securing your future should be part of the journey. Traditional estate planning can cost thousands of dollars, and one size fits all templates may not capture all the important details of the life you've built. With trust and will, you can protect your legacy from the comfort of your own home, starting at just $159. I know from my own law practice that a state planning through other means can be incredibly

Starting point is 00:06:05 grueling process and often costing thousands of dollars. But trust and will makes it super simple and streamlines the entire process from A to Z. Trust and will's website is incredibly easy to navigate and the process is very straightforward. And one of the best parts is that after working with trust and will, you'll have peace of mind that your assets and wishes are secure. From maintaining control of your assets to easing the burden on your loved ones, and a state plan can ensure your family stays prepared and protected. Trust and will has simplified the process of creating and managing your will or trust online from finding out which right for your family to finalizing documents with a notary.

Starting point is 00:06:48 Game piece of mind today with trust and will get 10% off plus free shipping of your estate plan documents by visiting trustinwill.com slash legal a f that's 10% off and free shipping at trustinwill.com slash legal AF. Bad day for Harry. In court, really bad day for Donald Trump, because his lawyer for Jeff Clark said the boss made me do it. This is where the knives are out, right? Knives out and the co conspirators are busy stabbing and shivving each other as they try try to f way out. As we set on l on the Midas Touch Network as soon as Chesbro and or Powell are convicted by

Starting point is 00:07:31 Georgia in October, you are going to see, you're going to hear it flipping flip, flip, flip, flip, flip, flip, as many or at least a good handful of the 17 remaining were 16 not named Donald Trump, try to cut a deal with F the 17 remaining or 16, not named on all Trump,

Starting point is 00:07:47 try to cut a deal with Fondi Willis and get that F out of there and not subject themselves to a future trial where they likely, likely will be convicted too, but we'll have to I guess wait, they're waiting to see what happens with the trial of Chesbro and Powell. And when that goes down, listen for the flipping. It'll be like pancakes at the international house of pancakes. Now, what's the takeaway on this particular hot take? I hope you found, if you come to federal court, gotta come heavy.

Starting point is 00:08:17 You gotta come with evidence, if you got an evidential burden. You gotta carry your burden with evidence. You can't submit affidavits, I can't be crossing examined. That's hearsay. You can't submit affidavits, it can't be cross-examined. That's hearsay. You got to come live and testify. If you want the brass ring, you got to go for it, Jeff. You got to testify and you can't have your lawyer stand in court inconsistent with your

Starting point is 00:08:37 own declaration that you filed and argue that Trump did it, Trump made you do it and not and not really understand the timeline and have it be inconsistent with the declaration, the sworn testimony that the judge just rejected. And for those that might be thinking, well, if the judge rejected it, can anybody use it? Yes. Fonney Willis and Jack Smith can use the sworn testimony of Jeff Clark against him in their trials. the sworn testimony of Jeff Clark against him in their trials. And that, right? So he created across the Rubicon. He gave sworn testimony. It didn't even, the worst yet, it didn't even get used in the way he wanted it.

Starting point is 00:09:15 But now it's going to be used by the prosecutors and picked up and he's going to be bludgeoned with it. It's either going to be a waiver of his Fifth Amendment rights to not testify. He's going to be forced to testify at his trials. Or they're going to be able to use this against him, of course, and just enter it into evidence in both the state court case and the federal case. I'm going to follow and analyze developments like this one on the hottest real estate on the Midas Touch Network, the corner of law and politics. I do it on hot takes just like this one, only exclusively on the Midas Touch Network. Free subscribe, help them get the two million right here. Give me a thumbs up. It helps

Starting point is 00:09:54 with my ratings, helps keep this content coming to you. And then if you like what we're doing here on Wednesdays and Saturdays, you'll love the legal AF podcast where I do it with co-anchors Wednesday and Saturday at that intersection of law and politics. I'm Michael Popak until the next hot take until the next legal AF reporting. Hey, Midas, Mighty. Love this report. Continue the conversation by following us on Instagram. at MidasTouch, to keep up with the most important news of the day. What are you waiting for? Follow us now.

Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump Co-Defendant THROWS HIM UNDER THE BUS in Court and NO ONE Saw It Coming

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