Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump Files HEINOUS MOTION ATTACKING Judge and Clerk in Fraud Trial

Episode Date: November 15, 2023

Donald Trump‘s team has just filed its motion for mistrial in the New York civil fraud case and it’s based on another unethical attack on Judge Engoron’s law clerk by name and photo in blatant violation of the gag order. Michael Popok of Legal AF explains why the motion will not only be denied, but will lead to further sanctions against the defense and its attorneys. Head to https://geolog.ie/LEGALAF70 or scan the QR code on the screen and use code LEGALAF70 and they will give you an exclusive 70% off of their award-winning skincare trial set. On top of that you can SAVE BIG on the add-ons products of your choice when you add it to your trial. Thank you Geologie for sponsoring this video! Visit https://meidastouch.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 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

Michael Popok, legal AF. Donald Trump has filed his motion from mistrial in the civil fraud case. He's fallen in love with a new term that of co-judging a phrase I've never heard before as a long time practitioner in New York. And for good measure, he spends about half the brief doing exactly what the gag water against Donald Trump and his lawyers have told them that they cannot do, which is to attack by name and even photograph the principal law clerk that works hand in glove with the judge. They're wrong on the law. They're wrong on the facts. They're wrong on comments made about the media and they're wrong about the grounds for a mistrial. Let me break it all down right here

on this particular hot tick. Their fundamental argument in their brief for Donald Trump and the others is that the principal law clerk is somehow has been elevated inappropriately to be a co-judge. They use that phrase about half a dozen times throughout the brief. As a filler, they fall in love with the concept. They think it has the imagery that they want. That it's not judge and gore on who's making all the rulings. It's the principle law clerk. This demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of the principal law clerk

in a New York state Supreme Court proceeding. I've done other hot tics on this. I've been practicing here for 32 years. I know these courts. I know the governing laws and rules. And I know the role of the law clerk in New York practice, which is quite unique. It's not like what Chris Keiss does down in Florida. They don't have the equivalent of a principal law clerk down there.

And it's certainly not what these two lawyers that sign the brief along with Chris Keiss, in this case, I'll put it up here, Alina Haba and Cliff Robert, they don't understand this either. First of all, Alina Haba lists an address as if she practices regularly in New York. I know this address, 112 West 34th Street. It is a Regency Office Co-sharing space. It's not even her office. It's right down the street from my real office where I practice law in New York. She does not practice regularly in New York. If you put her name into Google or into Lexus Nexus, I defy you to find any real substantive reported decisions in which she's practice law in New Yorker could even comment about procedure the way they have in this filing.

And Cliff Robert and his associate who practiced not in Manhattan where the court is located, but out in Long Island, don't know it any better either. Because if they did, they wouldn't make comments like they've done in the brief to suggest that there's something untoward or unethical about a judge who is the trial of fact in a bench trial with no jury relying on a communication, investigation, note-taking or otherwise by his principal law clerk. Look, this could be a 15-week trial. The attorney general put on 25 witnesses.

We expect Donald Trump one way or the other to put on another dozen witnesses. That's 40 or so witnesses plus thousands and thousands and thousands of pages of documents. The judge is not a computer. This is not artificial intelligence. This is intelligence. And a judge has a staff to help them. Just like a law firm doesn't operate by itself. I'm a partner. I have associates. I have law clerks. I have paralegals. We all work the case together, right? They're not co-first sharing the case just because they work with me. Any more than the principal law clerk under the system that's unique and, and, and even

archaic a little bit going back 100 years in New York practice. Neither is the role of the principal law clerk here. That they make a big deal out of and they show the pictures of her sitting next to the judge during a bench trial to assist him in his role as the trial effect as his staff, which ethically under the judicial rules, she's allowed to do and he's allowed to do. And they point that out as if it's, they've never seen this before. Clip Robert in his supporting affidavit, along with Alina Hobb is like, I've never seen the principal lockler sit next to the judge, but then you haven't tried enough cases.

And you haven't tried enough cases in New York State Supreme Court on a bench trial that goes on for, you know, three months with all of the data. What does he think? It's all stored into some computer somewhere and then the judge just has, you know, a robots help him in a system in the, in the, in the eventual order that he's going to have to generate. Look, I'm going to repeat this one more time, not for my audience. But for, I guess the other side, this is a bench trial. There is no jury.

The jury, when there is a jury and they are the trial effect, they collect their own documents and data, they work together, they take notes, they get in a room, they deliberate all nine or 12 of them. When it's just one judge, what? There is nothing wrong. In fact, it is permitted and it would be irresponsible for the judge not to have staff supporting him. So when a witness in week six, right, says something that's inconsistent with a witness from week one, or that same witness who's testified first, like Don Jr. for the attorney general,

and then later for the Trump organization, has a variance in his testimony, or her testimony, the principal law clerk can elbow the judge or hand him a note in this case and say, I think this is inconsistent with earlier testimony. Then at a break, they can pull up the transcript, or she can pull up the transcript, because there's a transcript that's running

that also assists the judge that's created by a court reporter. And I'm sure the principal, Locklark, wonderful roles during the day is to check the transcript and mark the transcript for places that she thinks might be helpful to the judge when he renders his decision. Everything I've just described is normal, garden variety, run of the mill practice in New York State Supreme Court.

If you know how it works here, and if you practice here, these people don't. These are carpet baggers, Chris from Florida, where I also practice, Alina Habba from New Jersey, and the other guy from the island, sorry, the island, but that's the way it is. So everything in the brief, all roads in the brief come down to their intentional, willful misunderstanding of New York civil procedure and how the relationship between a principal

law clerk and a judge operates. And for them to say they're shocked, shocked that the principal law clerk is passing notes to the judge. I would be shocked if she wasn't. Or if the judge was more computer savvy, direct messaging him. You know, a lot of courts use teams or Slack or Google or something, and they're communicating during the trial. And the parties don't have a right to see that communication anymore than they get to

sit in the judge's chambers while he's thinking about the case or a deliberating about how he's going to render his decision. It's the same thing. So that's the first line of attack, right? Fundamental misunderstanding, misapprehension of how New York procedure works and the role of a judge and the principal law clerk. For good measure, they attack the principal law clerk, which is exactly what the judge gagged them from doing. Don't attack my staff. Don't attack my principal lockler. So what did they do? They tripled down on it.

She's mentioned in footnote. She's mentioned in photos. She's mentioned by name a dozen times throughout the brief because they want to make the argument that she is some sort of co-judge, right? This is a drinking game. Every time you read co-judge and the brief, take a shot. So she's a co-judge. And therefore, things like her running to be a judge,

because let me just bring this up. A lot of principal law clerks want to be judges. And this is the training academy or the feeder program in New York. Many judges were once principal law clerks, right? It's like a, it is considered like a junior judge position, not a co-judge, but a junior judge position. Theology is a 26-time award-winning skin, hair, and body care company recognized in men's health, high-beast, Ask Men, and Oprah Daley grooming awards. Geology creates simple and effective skincare and hair care routines customized just for you, with ingredients that are proven to work. Their products are built around just a handful of powerful proven ingredients that have been trusted by dermatologists for decades. With over 7,000 5 star reviews, it's clear that people truly love the product.

My skin looks so much better now that I'm using the geology skin care they sent to me. My skin is smoother and it's become a wonderful daily routine to make sure my skin stays clear. The moisturizing morning cream and everyday face wash have become my personal favorite. Geology Spell GEOLGIE helps fight acne, reduce oiliness, prevent wrinkles, and combat darker puffy under eyes. Have smoother hydrated skin and target signs of aging. Right now, for a limited time, they're hooking you up with an absolutely insane offer. Use my code LegalAF70 or scan the QR code on the screen and they will give you an exclusive 70% off their award winning skincare trial set. On top of that, you can get 30% on the add-ons products of your choice when you add it to

your trial. This is one of the best offers you'll see. Get it before it's gone. Head to GEOLOG.IE slash legal AF 70 or scan the QR code on the screen and use code legal a f 70 and they will give you an exclusive 70% off of their award-winning skincare trial set. On top of that, you can save big on the add-on products of your choice when you add it to your trial.

Thank you geology for partnering with us. As I've said before, I've had plenty of interaction with principal law clerks in New York, just like the one for Judge Engoron, and they are to be treated with respect and decorum as if they are the judge. They are an extension of the judge. They are the judge's diplomat. They make a lot of decisions along with the parties on discovery issues, on issues that never even get to the judge. They are the judges diplomat. They make a lot of decisions along with the parties on discovery issues, on issues that never even get to the judge. Happens all the time. If I were to call out that, that would just completely throw over the entire body of law and history about the practice of law in New York. All right. If I say, oh, no, like the fact the principal law clerk is

meeting with me and not the judge on this discovery issue. Good luck. That is the way things are practiced here. I don't like that the law clerk and the judge talked during a trial. Good luck. That is not grounds for a mistrial or an ethical breach. Then they, then they have to lower themselves. They're pretty, they're pretty low now. I mean, they're scraping the bottom of the barrel now ethically and morally to go after the principal, lockler by name and say she's a loser that ran for judge and didn't get elected. And she's a in the pocket of the Democrats. And she's in the pocket of the attorney general. First of all, I don't know if any of that's true. But she's allowed to have under the first amendment a role in

politics, especially when she was running for the position of judge. Now, she didn't get it. By the way, she'll probably get it now. I mean, right now, her name, the brand value, is skyrocketed because of Donald Trump. I have a shock if she runs and doesn't win the next election. But let's leave that aside for another hot tick. For right now, she has the right to do what she did. She didn't over-donate.

She didn't donate more than she was permitted to do. So that's false as well. So you've got the co-judging argument wrong. We've dispatched that. You've got the, she's a political democratic operative wrong and a violation of the gag order that the judge told him, told Chris Keispoint blank by name, Chris don't file that motion. And that's exactly the motion they filed. And then they don't like the fact that he got that Donald Trump got gagged and fined twice. So they make the argument again, which the judge is the trial of fact already rejected that Donald Trump wasn't referring to the, to the

principal law clerk when he was gagged from doing so. He was referring to Michael Cohen. It is impossible, especially after reading the brief where they spend an inordinate amount of time talking about, we've never seen the principal law clerk sit next to a judge. Again, they don't go to enough trials. Then they don't get out much if they think that's true in New York, but they spent all that ink and all that paper talking about where the principal law clerk is sitting in relation to the judge, but then they have the temerity, the balls to say Donald Trump when he made the statement about the person sitting next to or adjacent to

the judge is also partisan to argue that that was Michael Cohen, who sat below the judge and the witness box, not next to the judge, or adjacent to the judge. I mean, it's just mind-boggling. And then my other favorite, which shows how unreliable as advocates they are, how corrupt they are in their arguments, losing all credibility, they made the argument that there's so much perception in the public of bias about the trial that the judge should then over backwards and grant the mistrial

because they don't like the comments that he's made. And so for that, for instance, they cite to an article by Andrew McCarthy, and what they say leading into that. And this is on page one over to two of the motion. They say moreover, there can be no doubt of the public perception of bias in this case. Even commentators who are politically opposed to President Trump have noted the bias nature of the proceedings and the astonishing departures from ordinary standards of impartiality, citing Andrew McCarthy in the national review. All right. Then they don't want the public to understand who Andrew McCarthy is. Andrew McCarthy had once been an attorney for Rudy Giuliani

and he is a die hard Republican. He may not be a a Trump or a but he's a die hard Republican and don't be fooled for the they made the comment as if Andrew McCarthy is on the Democratic or blue side of the aisle He is not and so that's the only case that they cited and they don't like the fact This is the final kind of critique in the brief that the judge in his Private school newsletter where he's an alum likes to post articles, just post the links to articles about the case under alumni in the news and he'll just post the link. And that's all they can say on pages six and seven that the judge at about half a dozen times posted links to articles.

And they keep saying included a link to an article, including a link to the article, included a link to the article. Then they say, well, that violates the judicial canons that say a judge shall not make any public comment about appending or impending prop preceding. Where is there a public comment by the judge in posting an article that's already in the public domain? They have to admit later on that there's no commentary, but they have to say they have to do this big, you know, silly putty stretchy thing to say, well, it's the link is like a comment. And therefore he violated, no, the link is not a comment. I mean, is it best practice for a judge to like

do his own PR? Probably not. Is it a violation of the ethics rules that he comment, not comment publicly on a case that's pending or about to be before him? No, you're allowed to have, you know, like news clippings, if you want, about the case. And so, you know, when you look at the brief, you know, and the attacks on the locklark and the pictures taken to show that they're to try to demonstrate that there's something untoward or something evil or sinister about the judge having a chair next to him. By the way, the bench just says, I just thought of this.

The bench is built in order to have staff next to them. I've never been in a courtroom in federal or state practice. And I've tried 40 cases in which there wasn't a key staff member. Clark, deputy, bailiff, something next to the judge. Not one. Federal courts use federal law clerks, which come from law schools graduate from law schools. Maybe they practice for a short amount of time and they get these plum positions as law clerks. They write a lot of the opinions for the judges and the judges then either change them

and or sign them. That's on the federal side, but state-by-state, it's all different. You can have what's called a law secretary. You can have a judicial assistant. You can have a deputy, a bailiff, a clerk, in this case, a principal law clerk, which is an attorney in New York,

right? This is not only an attorney, just to let you know her credentials. She was a trial attorney for the city of New York and its corporation council, very well qualified. So, if he needs to turn to her for a question to be answered, it's not anything to be talking about in a motion for mistrial. This motion, which is going to be denied, first opposed by the New York Attorney General, I'm sure within the next few days,

and then a final brief by Donald Trump, and then a denial by Judge Angoron while the case continues. And if they don't like it, they'll do what they've done a couple of other times, which is to run to the appellate court that sits over Judge Angkor on the first department, appellate division, which sits in Manhattan and try to argue to some three judge panel or one judge that need an emergency stay of the whole trial because of the bias. I doubt they get an emergency stay of the trial. I think this is all appeal issues that will happen after the judge rules at the end of December or so about the case, as opposed to what's called an interlocutory appeal,

which is an appeal happening right now that needs to be addressed on an emergency basis by the court. We'll continue to follow this motion for mistrial and its result. One place might as touch and on their YouTube channel, free subscribe, help them get the two million. And then we pulled together stories like this at the intersection of law, politics and justice, and we put them together in a curated podcast. We call legal AF.

Yeah, the titles, what you think and we do it on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. Saturdays at 8 p.m. Eastern time. And then we put it on audio podcast platforms wherever you get your audio podcast platform. Give me a thumbs up for this particular hot take. It helps with the ratings and keeps this content coming to you. And until my next hot take, until my next legal AF, this is Michael Popak reporting. Hey, MidasMiddi. 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.