Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump DOJ Surrenders to Federal Judges in Humiliating Defeat

Episode Date: March 23, 2026

It only took: (a) a chief judge threatening literally to open the doors of federal prisons to release convicts and dismiss indictments; and (b) another judge tossing a senior DOJ official out of his courtroom and threatening to put Alina Habba under oath at a hearing about whether she was secretly and illegally running a prosecutor’s office after being fired; for the Trump Administration to cave in and allow for a proper US Attorney to be appointed in NJ. Popok is on the scene and reporting. Check out the Popok Firm: https://thepopokfirm.com 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

Well, we got some breaking news about the Department of Justice and its leadership. They have finally folded in the face of two separate federal court orders and are now willing to accept a new U.S. attorney in New Jersey not named Alina Haba or anybody else, somebody that's been picked by the district judges of New Jersey. Mr. Frazier, Robert Frazier, is now the new acting interim U.S. Attorney, New Jersey. It took two separate federal judges, one Judge Brand and the other one, Judge Karashi, to excoriate and rebuke the Trump administration in the last week before they finally folded and accepted Mr. Frazier, who's been in their office, in that office for over 20 years to run the office. This is what it takes to hold the Trump administration and its Department of Justice and Pam Bondi accountable, apparently. you have to threaten to drag Alina Haba in for testimony under oath about whether she's secretly running the office or not before they fold and agree to the appointment of an appropriate interim U.S. attorney until they get around to getting a final confirmed U.S. attorney in the next 120 days.

I'm Michael Popak. I got the Department of Justice letter in my hand. Let's get to it here. I'm Midas Touch and Legal A.F. Okay. Judge Brand is the chief judge of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, but he sat by designation in New Jersey because of the conflict of interest, because under the Federal Vacancy Reform Act, the judges of the district pick the replacement, which they just did if there's a vacancy. Judge Brand got pissed off after taking Alina Haba out six or eight months ago because she was illegally appointed. He then ruled in the last two weeks that the attempt to run the office with three different people was no better and was actually illegal under the Vacancy Reform Act. And he threatened the Trump administration in his ruling that if they didn't get a properly appointed person under the Vacancy Reform Act or let the district court judges do it for them, that he was going to start dismissing indictments and potentially open the jailhouse doors and let criminals out. because they were flirting with that disaster. Now was Judge Brand.

He then asked for supplemental briefing on that very issue. Then we fast forward to four days ago, five days ago, Judge Karashi in New Jersey. Also federal judge used to work in the U.S. Attorney's Office. He got so pissed off at her hearing that he threw out of his hearing the appellate judge, sorry, the head of the appellate division

for the District of New Jersey right out of his courtroom. Mark Coyne, Mr. Coyne, you're gone. And he said, I'm going to get to the bottom by asking an assistant U.S. attorney, who's run in that office? So he started asking questions. He said, how often have you seen Alina Haba in that office, who got fired by Judge Brand? Not often. Well, has she met with Phil Lamperello, Jordan Fox, or Ari Fontechio, who are the three assistant U.S. attorneys who are running around acting like they run the office.

illegally. Has she met with them? Well, I'm not aware. Oh, so it could be happening, but you're not aware. That's when coin got thrown out for trying to step in front of the moving bus and said she's not running the office. I'm not hearing from you right now. You're not sworn in and you're not, you haven't appeared in this case. Goodbye. There's the door. He then set in in April, moved to May a deadline, a drew a line in the sand for Alina Haba to take. testify under oath about whether she's running the office secretly working for Pam Bondi. Now, of course, the Trump administration doesn't want to Lena Haba testifying. So they've now agreed that the district court judges and who they picked, which is Robert

Frazier from that office who's been there for 20 years, can be the acting interim for the next 20 days. Here's the letter. Let me read it to you. This is by Mark Coyne, the guy who was thrown out of the office by you. Judge Karashi thrown out of the courtroom. He's now signing as supervisory assistant U.S. attorney and chief of the appeals division. Dear Chief Judge Brand. Okay. I write to notify the court. And by the way, he's also writing about the case involving Judge Karashi, which is the

Nawawala case. He's writing in the Torres case. I write to notify the court and opposing counsel that exercising its authority under 28 U.S.C. Section 546, that's the Vacancy Reform Act, the District Court, meaning the 12 judges of New Jersey, have appointed Robert Frazier as the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey. That's for the next 120 days. Mr. Frazier has served in the office with distinction for more than two decades. He was the Senior Trial Counsel. Furthermore, his appointment filed consultation between the district court and the Department of Justice senior leadership. Consultations, the government had represented to the court that it was willing to pursue.

So that's an indication that Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche, maybe Alina Haba, who knows, it's not identified, and the district court judges, the chief judge, had a conversation about Frazier. Accordingly, the government respectfully requests that the court stay the deadline for the government's supplemental brief in Torres. In other words, the judge was like, why should I not? find you in contempt. Why should I not? This is Judge Brand, open the jailhouse doors and find that all of your indictments are invalid because you didn't have a U.S. attorney in place. But they go further.

This is how troubled the Department of Justice was by having Alina Haba. The image of Alina Haba taking the stand was so frightening that they're willing to go back and get new indictments, superseding indictments in existing cases with Robert Frazier's name. on it rather than continue to argue that they were properly running that office. This is, this is a win for justice, for sure. But look what has to happen. Coin has to get thrown out of a courtroom. Judge Karashi has to threaten to put Alina Haba and others under oath in a hearing.

Judge Brand has to threaten to open the jailhouse doors. And then they go, yeah, we'll take, we'll take Robert Frazier as the new U.S. attorney. Yeah, that's a really great idea. You should do that. Hey, everybody, Ben Mysellis here from the Midas Touch Network. I wanted to let you know about my podcast partner, Michael Popock's new law firm. It's called the Popak firm. Michael Popak's pursuing his dream of starting his own law firm, really based on the popular demand

by all the Midas, Mighty, and Legal A-Fers who were approaching Michael Popock with their cases and saying, can you help us? And at that time, Popak was not able to. So he went out on his own. He started the Popok firm where he is now handling catastrophic injury cases like car accident cases, trucking cases, malpractice cases, big negligence cases, wrongful death cases. So if you or someone you know, have a case like this, the consultation with Popock's firm is free. Give him a call. See if you have a case.

It's thepopokfirm.com. the Popock firm.com or you can call 877 Popok A-F, P-O-P-O-K-A-F. So, 1877 P-O-P-P-O-K-A-F. Give Michael Popak a call, and I'm really proud of you, Popak. Thanks for all the hard work you're putting in. There are five other jurisdictions out of 93 federal districts, federal U.S. Attorney's offices for each of the federal districts. They still don't have a U.S. attorney properly.

Yeah, we've had, and we've had people resign after Alina Haba got fired. Lindsay Halligan resigned in disgrace as the Eastern District of Virginia prosecutor. I mean, the three, I mean, I would say there's five, we can have a debate about this. The five of the top prosecutor's offices for the feds, in my view. I'll make it six. seven. Southern District, New York, covers Manhattan. Eastern District of New York.

Covers Brooklyn. Central District of California covers L.A., Northern District of California, Silicon Valley, and San Francisco. Eastern District of Virginia. That's a lot of things doing government, patents, and that kind of thing. Eastern District of Virginia and District of New Jersey. I mean, we could, I'll throw Chicago in there, too, the Northern District of Illinois. These are important, not that the other ones aren't, but these are important.

They have the highest volume. They have drug cases, national security cases, treason cases, espionage cases, patent cases, trademark cases, copyright cases, things having to do with AI, immigration cases, all come through these various places. Yeah, we could throw in Maryland, we could throw in Connecticut, but those are the ones. and to have these inexperienced, non-prosecutors running these offices, or these junior prosecutors running these offices, is it affront to the American justice system, an affront to the Constitution, and finally, finally, but look at the lengths to which federal judges had to go,

and they were willing to go there. Contempt, opening jailhouse doors, putting Alina Haba under oath, and then the Trump administration cried Uncle and said, we'll take Frasier. And pressure from platforms like Legal A.F. and Midas Touch, helping to draw attention and drill down and give heavy artillery on these types of issues.

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Scott McFarland reports on the Midas Touch Network. Can't wait to work shoulder to shoulder with Scott McFarland. First, I hope, of many, many announced editions. and growth strategies for Midas Touch, now is the moment to meet the moment and grow midterm election and beyond. If you're wondering what independent journalism and commentary looks like, you're looking at it, and it's all because of you. Thanks for being here on Michael Popock until my next report.

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