Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump DOJ Makes Shock Confession in Court

Episode Date: February 20, 2026

It’s a sad commentary when the DOJ admitting in a court filing that they have “only” violated 56 court orders in one federal district just since December, is a GOOD week for the DOJ. But the real story, as Popok reports, is the reason that DOJ official Jordan Fox is using some smarmy apologetic tone in her letter to a NJ federal judge. It’s because she is a close friend of Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer and now 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals judge Emil Bove, and she’s lobbying the judges to get them to vote her in as the US Attorney replacement for Alina Habba in NJ. Qualia: Take control of your cellular health today. Go to https://qualialife.com/legalaf and save 15% to experience the science of feeling younger. 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 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 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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Go to eat IQbar.com and enter code bar 20 to get 20% off all IQ bar products plus free shipping. Again, go to eat IQ bar.com and enter code bar 20. Well, I guess 56 is better than 96. It's a sad day in the Department of Justice in its corrupt operation when admitting to a federal judge in a recent filing that they've violated 56 court orders in 547 cases that have been filed in New Jersey just since December,

that that's a good week for the Department of Justice because it's almost half of what they have violated in Minnesota when two weeks ago Chief Judge Schillard, in Minnesota did his own survey and figured out that they had violated 96 orders related primarily to the Great Rit, the writ of habeas corpus, which is the individual right that people have if they have been made to disappear as part of Donald Trump's migration, migrant removal policies to get before a federal judge. It's called the Great Rit for a reason. It's the embodiment of our due process right under the Fourth Amendment. And it's been violated by confession, by the U.S.

Attorney's Office and the Department of Justice in New Jersey alone 56 times, but there's something beneath that story now that I've got your attention. There's a link between Jordan Fox, this person who just wrote a very conciliatory letter from the Department of Justice. I thought CHATGPT wrote it telling a federal judge, we're so sorry, we're so contrite about the, about the violations in the last two months in New Jersey. And it shouldn't have to be. And it shouldn't happen. The rule of law is so important. I'm like, who is this person? Who is this Jordan Fox? Aha, I figured it out. One, she's supremely connected to Emil Bovi, Donald Trump's former criminal defense lawyer. They work together in a law firm in New Jersey. And Emil Bovi is now,

after doing all that destruction the first three months as effectively the acting attorney general for Donald Trump, he got promoted to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals that sits over where New Jersey. and now his associate, Jordan Fox, formerly known as Jordan Stevenacci, she is lobbying effectively. She needs 17 votes from the district court judges of New Jersey, of which one is the person she just wrote to, to try to get the permanent job to replace Alina Haba as U.S. attorney. So all the smarmy brown-nosing that I found in the letter,

I was like, who is this person? And how much longer is she going to be in the department? aha, she's campaigning. She's trying to get the 17 votes. She's got two competitors in her own office, but she's got the inside track. Donald Trump wants her, and she's close to Emil Bovi.

How convenient that whenever the Department of Justice comes into the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and makes an argument, and Emil Bovi is on the panel from New Jersey, then he gets this look at his associate. Who's the U.S. attorney advocating for the Department of Justice? Ah, the corruption. It stinks to high.

Heaven. I'm Michael Popock. You're on the Midas Touch Network, an unlegal AF. All right, let's get down to it. Three weeks ago, Chief Judge of Minnesota, Chief Judge Sheltz did his own survey, determined that there were 96 violations. There's no laughing matter, but there's 96 violations of court orders, meaning contempt behavior. We call it contumacious behavior in the business. In just since January, among just ICE, he was so flabbergasted by it. He said, I'm going to all people in contempt as a result if it happens ever again. And he said, this is more than any agency probably in history has ever experienced in terms of violating and defying court orders in their entire history, let alone in the month of January. And I thought that was bad. I thought maybe that's

the high watermark. No. So apparently a federal judge ordered, because she didn't do it voluntarily, Jordan Fox, who's one of three people running the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey since Elena Haba got effectively fired and promoted to go work for Pam Bondi after she got rejected by several courts from holding the U.S. attorney's position beyond 120 days. So Jordan Fox, along with two colleagues, they split up the role. This is a way for Donald Trump to do an end run around the confirmation process and the appointment clause of the Constitution. He just won't name another U.S. attorney. He'll just divide and conquer. He'll divide the office into three parts. He'll give Jordan Fox one part. Somebody's going to run

the administrative unit. Somebody's going to run the criminal unit. She's going to run the civil unit. We're good, right? No, you're not good. That's still a violation of the Constitution and of the appointments clause. You can't just go, well, it's not going to have a U.S. attorney, if that's what you guys want. Just appoint somebody that can garner the votes and the support that's not so controversial. That's not a political hack. Now, I don't know much about Jordan Fox. Frankly, she hasn't been on planet Earth that long. She hasn't been a lawyer that long. I don't know if she's seven years out of law school, eight years out of law school. I'm sure she's a very nice person. But should she be the U.S. attorney for the top five Department of Justice agency in the country? Probably not.

If she wasn't connected to Emil Bovi, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals judge, would they be considering her? Probably not. So when I got the letter, I know the headline for most mass media was, U.S. Department of Justice Official admits 56 violations of court orders to federal judge. Nah, not so fast. The reason for the conciliatory tone of the letter, which I thought was really written by ChatGBTBT at one point. and the solicitous nature of it, smar me. Of course we honor the rule of law, your honor. Thank you for recognizing that since we took over, we're really trying to comply. I was like, is there a trash can in my hotel room I can throw up in?

But now I understand why? Because she's got to get 17 votes. And she's working hard. And she's working the hallways. And she's brown-nosing her way into trying to get the 17 votes. Why 17 votes? Because while there is a vacancy, There's only one entity that can appoint an interim U.S. attorney once Donald Trump got done with his first appointment, which was Alina Haba, for 120 days.

That's the district court judges of that district. There's 17 of them that can vote. And she's working the ref. She's working the votes. Let me read to you from the letter. Let me just get myself together here. Here's the letter that she just wrote where she confesses. But now you have the context.

Emil B. Buddy. Right? Trying to get the votes. Dear Judge Farbias, I greatly appreciate the opportunity as a senior Department of Justice Official. Listen, I'll try not to do this too smart me, but it's hard.

To submit a declaration detailing the compliance of respondents that's the government with court orders in this district just from December 5 to present. I greatly appreciate your honor's recent recognition in another case that this office's effort to ensure respondents' compliance is thoughtful and reflects intensity of senior level focus.

We will continue to act with the utmost vigilance. Like what? Where are we? Talk about gaslighting to prevent self-report and ensure compliance with court orders during this unprecedented period of immigration filings. Unprecedented period of immigration filings? You mean the wholesale violation of civil liberties and civil rights

by your boss, Donald Trump, leading to individual human beings, bringing over 547 writs of habeas corpus petitions in the month of December alone, I agree. Our office takes adherence to court orders very seriously, she writes, and we communicate,

was this like tongue-in-cheek, and we communicate this principle to our agency's clients and law enforcement partners on a regular basis. It's a bedrock feature of our justice system. Oh, get off it. Jordan, nobody buys this, okay?

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your older self will thank you. And thanks to Qualia for sponsoring this episode. There is enough reporting that we've been doing on legal AF and on Midas Dutch that proves the opposite. That the Department of Justice purposely defies court orders, purposely does not inform its agency clients about court orders, sends people to court that are purposely not prepared to answer the questions of judges in order to. have not plausible deniability. Doesn't do the research, doesn't do the writing, doesn't know the facts, doesn't have the evidence over

and this is a strategy. They don't care that the Department of Justice is being embarrassed. They don't care. You don't care that the Department of Justice's reputation is in the trash can of history and that federal judges don't believe you. They don't give you the presumption of normalcy,

normality, because there is no presumption of normality in the Trump world. They don't give the benefit of the doubt, they just have doubt about the Department of Justice. Grand juries don't trust the Department of Justice, or you, Jordan Fox, juries don't trust you, judges don't trust you, magistrate judges don't trust you, the American people don't trust you, and nothing that you write either yourself or through CHAPT to a judge you're trying to get a vote from is going to change that.

And as I started the hot take, 96, I mean, 56 is better than 96, but what a sad commentary that the Department of Justice, could take some sort of comfort that they only had to admit to 56 court violations, not the 96 that Judge Schultz in Minnesota found in his district since the same period, since effectively the same period, just a month of January. Yeah, we got it down to 56. Let me put it in context of a federal practitioner for 35 years. It should be zero, maybe one.

I'll give you one for human error. And listen to the list of what they violated. six missed court order deadlines just didn't file something didn't appear in court six 12 missed deadlines about bond hearings now think about that you're languishing in a detention center for weeks days months longer than you should you should be brought before a court for a bond hearing and you're not because the department of justice effed it up oops 17 transfers. This number is mind-boggling. One would be too many. 17 transfers removals have happened in violation of court orders. In other words, a judge said, do not transfer this person out of the jurisdiction or out of the country. And they violated it 17 times, including sending somebody outside the country where the court order do not remove them outside the country.

10 times they didn't provide evidence, evidence. This is like the foundational basics of prosecution or the Department of Justice to come forward with evidence. Ten times they didn't provide evidence despite court order to do so. And there's Jordan Fox. Hey, everybody. I mean, I don't know if you've seen the movie Election that put Reese Witherspoon on the map. I feel like this is Tracy running for the class president. Everybody vote for me.

I want to be the U.S. attorney. You, the fact that you think that your career is going to be benefited by pinning your fortune to this donkey and that you don't have some personal responsibility as an officer of the court to comply with ethics, to uphold the Constitution, you think this this smarmy letter that you wrote to a judge is going to solve that problem? We're going to continue to follow what happens next because we'll see what the judge asked for this

in detail a chart to do the survey and federal judges are now doing that. They're telling the Department of Justice, we don't trust you. Go tell us how many of our court orders, not just in my court, but throughout the district you have violated. So then they can take the reason for it. It's not informational. It's not because it's not scratching the itch for the judge. Oh, this is interesting.

I wonder how many court orders. are. It's not a drinking game. He's going to do something with it. He's going to remedy it. He is going to use the federal judges are going to use their inherent authority to fix the problem. This is just information gathering. Glad you're here. You're on Midas touch at the free subscribe button. But come over to Legal AF YouTube and do the exact same thing. 12 new videos every day. And just a little teaser. I'm in a hotel room because I just completed interviewing and exclusively interviewing and getting briefing for our audience from 12 of the 15% 12 of the 24 Democratic Attorneys General here at their conference in San Francisco met with me two separate panels amazing

interviews we focus a lot on voting and the protection of your vote you're not going to want to miss this it's going to be up on legal a.f YouTube that's the kind of content I hopefully that you look forward to so my until my next report I'm Michael Poppock Can't get your fill of legal A.F. Me neither. That's why we formed the legal A.F. Substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or an 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 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-A. F on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.