Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump DOJ Faces Reckoning over Fraud on Court

Episode Date: July 18, 2026

The DOJ and Todd Blanche have again underestimated Federal Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami, as they brag that they avoided having the Blanche “super pardon” for Trump and his family invalidated by her. Not so fast, as Popok reports she has actually invited a new motion to be filed for her to address whether Blanche committed a Fraud on the court, leading to the “super pardon” release of the Trump family being tossed as well. Subscribe:  @LegalAFMTN  Pre-order the new book from MeidasTouch, WTF America?!: The Way Out of This Hell and Back to Democracy, today: https://bit.ly/wtfamericayoutube 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 The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show The Ken Harbaugh Show: https://meidasnews.com/tag/the-ken-harbaugh-show Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 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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Your sales order says one thing. Your inventory says another. Your spreadsheet says good luck. O-Doo brings your business together on a single platform. From sales and accounting to inventory and marketing, visit Odu.com to book a demo. It's O'DOO.com. If Todd Blanche, the Department of Justice, we're hoping that Judge Williams, federal judge in Miami in her 56-page order, finding effectively that he should be sanctioned, that the settlement agreement he entered into should be declared null and void or not declared. to be a settlement at all. If he thinks that's at the bottom of a birdcage now and they can move on, they're not reading the order properly. In fact, I caught something in a footnote that I'm sure the Department of Justice missed in which the judge says she's effectively inviting another motion concerning fraud on the court to be filed so she can enter into appropriate sanctions. So if they think, which I know they do, that the settlement agreement that Todd Blanche amended the next day

granting unlimited super pardon power to Donald Trump and his family and his business associates and the rest for criminal and tax liability, that's going to stand up. Wait till somebody brings, as the judge has invited on footnote 59 of page 38 of her order, a Rule 60D3 motion under the federal rules of civil procedure to a judge. address fraud on the court. So when you hear Todd Blanche tap dance in his way through his confirmation hearing and thinking, I'm in the clear, I think I got the votes that doesn't mean that in the real world outside of it, he can't be disbarred and he can't have a major sanction up against him led by Judge Williams, a federal judge in Florida. Bar complaints and bar grievances. Fra

brought on the court and sanctions, maybe losing his law license, all in play while he is, perhaps, the confirmed attorney general. I'm Michael Popock. Let me break down. Let me take this Rubik's Cube and said it's all the right colors here on legal AF and on the Midas Touch Network. Okay. There's a lot of things that Judge Williams did in her 56-page decision.

She sanctioned Donald Trump's lawyers, sent them to the board. Bar Association for grievance proceedings for for disciplinary proceedings she imposed fines she declared that the settlement agreement creating the weaponization fund cannot be referred to as a settlement because it's not a settlement of a legitimate lawsuit now she left open the door as to whether as to whether the Department of Justice in the back rooms the smoky back rooms out of public sight could have entered into a similar agreement without involving the court. She left that for another day. In fact, I just interviewed in the last 24 hours, Judge Michael Ludick. And Judge Michael Ludick is one of the 35 federal judges that filed their brief, their motion to get Judge Williams to re-examine what went down in

her courtroom and whether there was fraud on the court. And here's a clip of that, my interview with Judge Ludick. Before I answer that question, though, I want to thank you and Legal A.F. and Midas Touch for the courage to represent the other members of the free press in America, many of whom have refused to carry forward with their responsibilities as a free press in America. Now, the wheels of justice and the wheels of the rule of law always grind slowly, very slowly, but they always grind inexorably to the point of and in the direction of absolute faithfulness to the rule of law. in the past year and a half since Donald Trump took office again, those wheels of justice, those wheels of the rule of law have been grinding slowly at first, but then gradually faster and faster toward the rule of law in America.

And at this point, I'm prepared to say that the rule of law through the federal courts of the United States have rendered their final verdict on Donald Trump and his administration's effort to subvert the rule of law in this country. Now, later in the interview, we talked specifically about what about the fact that the Department of Justice is now claiming that the settlement amendment entered into unilaterally by Todd Blanche, which was called out by the judge is still viable. It's still alive. And we came to a very interesting conclusion.

Here's a clip of Judge Ludig and me and local counsel in Miami for the former federal judges and a friend of mine, Andres Rivera, play the clip. Let me frame a new issue because it looks like the Department of Justice captured by Donald Trump has taken, has ignored about 99, point nine percent of what judge williams wrote and has latched on to and lighted on to one paragraph and one footnote i'm going to read it to you and i want to get your impression of this they're now

taking the position it's almost like the dumb and dumber movie it's like you're saying there's a chance so the release that todd blanche signed the day after he created the weaponization fund through a phony bad faith settlement of a lawsuit that should never have been brought in which he alone unilaterally granted to the Donald Trump, his family, organizations, and affiliates, a super pardon from tax liability and audit exposure and criminal liability, that's not before the judge. That still stands. We still have that in our back pocket. Here's one section, one section of the 56 pages that there looks like they're relying on. They say, she says that in the bottom of page 37, in dismissing the non-parties claims of collusion,

plaintiffs reveal the true position of the parties and say the quiet part out loud. Quote, regardless of whether plaintiffs had ever filed this action, the government and plaintiffs still had the power to resolve all disputes between the parties. The power to resolve was never a question before this court, whether executive branch actors can privately agree to give themselves and their former clients blanket immunities

and billions of dollars in tax monies for legally undefined grievances was never an issue advanced in this court. The question is whether the parties could do so by claiming to be adverse and engaging the legitimacy of a court proceeding, and the answer is a resounding no. So they're latching onto that and another foot no. What do you make of that, Andres? Well, and Michael, there's a lot to talk about what the judge did and what the relief is, but I would be very careful if I were them. I think they're overreading. As you say, one cherry-pick point,

they need to look, when they're looking at footnotes, they need to go to footnote 59. By the way, this is a very well-done opinion. I'd recommend it to any of your viewers if they have a chance, at least to look at the facts. But in terms of what this judge said, besides what you just referred to, which is not a positive for the president

or the Department of Justice, She says, however, this decision should not be understood as a final determination regarding any fraud perpetrated on the court and does not foreclose the possibility of future relief under Rule 60D3, which is post-judgment relief, that rule. So the judge is saying, do not fool with me, I still have the power to make a finding of fraud in the court, which would carry additional serious consequences. So she's inviting a 60D3 motion. Now, let me bring you up to speed of what I'm talking about. We'll post this up on LegalAF Substack for your review. Here's what the judge said on page 37. There's really two places to look.

Page 37 of 56 and footnote 59. Here's what she says in page 37. In dismissing the non-parties claims of collusion, plaintiffs reveal the true position of the parties and say the quiet part out loud. Regardless of whether plaintiffs had ever filed this action, that's Trump, the government and plaintiffs still had the power to resolve all disputes between the parties. The judge concludes, the power to resolve was never a question before the court,

whether the executive branch actors can privately agree to give themselves and their former clients blanket immunities and billions of dollars in tax monies for legally undefined grievances was never an issue advanced to this court. The question is whether the parties could do so by claiming to be adverse in engaging the legitimacy of a court proceeding. The answer is a resounding no. In footnote 59, she says the following. The court notes that it possesses the authority to protect the integrity of these proceedings under Rule 11 and its inherent authority. And so it need not invoke Rule 60D3. However, this decision should not be understood.

as a final determination regarding any fraud perpetrated on the court and does not foreclose the possibility of future relief under 60D3, citing a case from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, SEC versus ESM, in which the court concluded that fraud that prevents the functioning of the judicial process does not have to be brought within any specific time period. Accordingly, the court expresses no view as to whether the record. requirements of 60D3 have been satisfied. That is a direct invitation to the former federal judges to file a Rule 60D3 motion, which I think the judge is going to grant about fraud on the court. And if that happens, Tom Blanche, look out. You may be the confirmed Attorney General.

That's likely to happen, but you're going to be, you're going to lose your bar license and or be found to have fraudulently defrauded a court and have big problems going forward, especially if you'd like to practice law after you leave the attorney general position. Now, the Senator Blumenthal asked Todd Blanche about Judge Williams' decision, and Todd Blanche comes up with a whole bullshit analysis. Well, I was never asked to participate in those proceedings. That's a lie. He could have, he could have and should have testified,

before Judge Williams at any particular time in the case to avoid these sanctions, and he chose not to. Because Todd Blanche always chooses not to testify under oath. Watch this exchange in which he thinks it's like a hatchet job, that he wasn't referred for barred discipline when he actually was. Play the clip. The judge in Florida referred your... misconduct, she concluded that there was misconduct and misrepresentation, an improper purpose in that legal action,

to the bar of New York for potential discipline, including losing your law license. I know you disagree with the result of the ruling. Has that kind of referral ever happened by a federal judge for an Attorney General of the United States? I don't know, but I'll tell you something. That judge never asked us to respond. She never gave us an opportunity to respond to anything. And she didn't refer me. She just asked that a copy of the order be provided the New York Bar,

because there are several activist groups that have filed complaints against me. So listen, as I said earlier, I think anybody on this committee, especially the lawyers that have practiced, can read that opinion and reach their own conclusions. But I very much disagree with the judge's insinuations about me. And we're going to do what we can to make that right. I don't know which part of the order he's referring to. The judge says this entire 56-page decision should be sent to the bar associations that regulate the license of Todd Blanche. Let me read it to you, actually.

It says in noting that ethics complaints have been filed in New York in the District of Columbia against acting attorney general Blanche and associate attorney general Woodward, She also says that this should be sent to the state of New York bar of which acting attorney general Blanche is a member and lists his bar number. Okay? She actually meant the appellate division first department because I'm a member of that one in New York. That's what's regulating Tom Blanche's law license.

But I don't know how he doesn't see that as a referral to the bar association with the clerk mailing the order to the bar association to have them review it to see if they should open up a bar grievance. We had people ask me during the show last night on Legal AF. If he loses his law license, can he still be Attorney General? I think he can. We'll continue to look into that particular issue. But, you know, these are the matters that Todd Blanche has to continue to deal with.

And, you know, I just had Corey Booker, Senator Booker on with us last night on the Legal AF podcast. and he had this to say about the chances of any of the Republicans stepping out against Todd Blanche. Unfortunately, it looks like Tom Tillis is in the back. He's the Senate, senator from North Carolina that we hoped would vote against Todd Blanche. And Cornyn, who Donald Trump opposed and he lost his seat in Texas,

he doesn't seem to be willing to do the right thing either and oppose Todd Blanche. Play Cory Booker. Donald Trump doesn't give a rat's ass about the anti-Whor. weaponization fund because they could always pay these people through the backdoor of the Federal Tort Claims Act. What he cared about was the next day amendment created by Todd Blanche unilaterally with a signature, which created what Jamie Raskin has referred to as the super pardon or Judge Williams has referred to as the release of Donald Trump, his family, and

affiliates and associates of tax and audit liability and criminal liability. That's all Donald And you see already, not here, but you see how much your colleagues only focused on the anti-weaponization fund creation and the settlement agreement and did not focus on the thing that Donald Trump, I believe, really covets, which is that release. Yeah. In other words, it's the ultimate of the sort of a bait and switch. Right. Let's get everybody riled up about a fund. But the value for his children and for him to be able to be able to. to escape liability for the things that they are doing.

I am confident, I am confident that what we know about, the corruption we know about is the tip of the iceberg. How many companies now are they consulting with or that they got on the board with that then turn around and get contracts? How, what are they doing with these ill-gotten games that they're getting? Do they, in any way, in fact, New York Times,

already, I think they got a polter for the prize of tracing all the tax crimes of this family already. Unfortunately, the statute of limitations had expired. So I agree with you, if that's the point you're making about, that they have other remedies in terms of the torturous claims that they can make. But the reality is, the big cahuna here is to get that that shield from tax liability. Absolutely. So what does that mean going forward? It means we're going to have an attorney general named Todd Blanche, but that doesn't mean he's not going to be, he's not,

it means he's not immune from impeachment proceedings led by the Democrats. He's not immune to bar proceedings brought against him for bar discipline. It may be losing his bar license. And as I said, anything he said under oath during these last two days of confirmation hearings is perfect fodder and a basis for impeachment proceedings when the Democrats get the gavel in the House and the Senate at the midterms. And that could truly be his legacy. I'm going to have on with me on a special interview

that'll be up tomorrow, the lawyers, a group of lawyers and law associations that filed a more than 70-page bar complaint against Todd Blanche to talk about how they're working that process to make sure that he's proper disciplined. You're going to watch it with me, hopefully, on Legal AF YouTube channel. So until my next report, hit the free subscribe button on Legal AF YouTube channel and help us continue to grow that pro-democracy channel. I'm Michael Popok.

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