Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump Handed MAJOR LEGAL DEFEATS in Transition

Episode Date: November 24, 2024

Ben Meiselas and Michael Popok are back for a new episode of the top-rated Legal AF podcast. On tap? 1. A close examination of how the Gaetz take down can be used to successfully kill Trump's other... obscenely unfit cabinet picks, like Hegseth, Gabbard and RFK Jr.; 2. a drill down on Trump's hatchet man to slash entitlements, Russ Vought and how to limit his influence as head of the OMB; 3. Judge Merchan's decision to deny Trump's efforts to immediately "dismiss" his NY convictions and postpone sentencing until matters are fully briefed for appeal; 4. The democrats strike a deal to get another 20+ Biden judges confirmed, and so much more at the intersection of law and politics. Subscribe to the new Legal AF channel: https://youtube.com/@LegalAFMTN Subscribe to Meidas+ at https://meidasplus.com Thanks to our sponsors: Henson Shaving: Visit https://HensonShaving.com/LEGALAF to pick the razor for you and use code LEGALAF for 2 years worth of free blades! Rocket Money: Let Rocket Money reach your financial goals faster by going to https://rocketmoney.com/legalaf Fum: Head to https://TryFum.com/legalaf or scan the QR code on screen and get a FREE GIFT with the JOURNEY PACK today when you use code LEGALAF Zbiotics: Head to https://zbiotics.com/LegalAF to get 15% off your first order when you use LEGALAF at checkout. Fatty15: Get an additional 15% off their 90-day subscription Starter Kit by going to https://fatty15.com/LEGALAF and using code LEGALAF at checkout. Beam: Get up to 40% off for a limited time when you go to https://shopbeam.com/LEGALAF and use code LEGALAF at checkout! 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 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 On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:02:20 we see the law was working this week. The constitution structure where the Senate performs advice and consent functions, it actually worked with respect to Matt Gaetz. There are other red alarms with Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Exith and RFK Jr. and others, and we will get there and we will talk about it on today's show. But with respect to Donald Trump's appointment of Matt Gaetz as attorney general, it crumbled and it demonstrated serious weakness by Donald Trump and his transition team. And that weakness is metastasizing.
Starting point is 00:03:03 We see that with Pete Hegseth. And again, we see here the tentacles of the law in action because Hegseth was credibly accused of engaging in a sexual assault, a rape of a woman back in 2017. Police reports were made and now through public records requests, those police reports are made public and people can evaluate these claims. People can evaluate a police report that talks about rape of unconscious women and people can assess if a Fox Weekend news host who's accused of that and has zero leadership experience
Starting point is 00:03:46 of material substance within the military should get the nuclear codes and be the Secretary of Defense. And we're gonna talk about that with RFK, we're gonna talk about that with Tulsi, but the entire system has not broken down and the first rule when dealing with authoritarians is you don't obey in advance. Frankly, I think it should just be shortened to you don't obey, but you get the point. So I want to talk about all of that and then I want to talk about another big misstep I think of Donald Trump who wants to spend his time now with the Department of Justice, which he will weaponize, relitigating 2020. So focused on what went down.
Starting point is 00:04:30 He wants his Department of Justice to what attack judges he appointed, who ruled against him in 60 plus cases in 2020, and then try to make allies of those judges to enact his agenda. When those judges are now even further empowered to strike down administrative acts and other steps that he may take to try to decay and destroy the government. We'll talk about all of that and more. And we'll talk about what's going on in New York because there will be a ruling on the motion to dismiss the criminal charges against Donald Trump before Inauguration Day. That's not gonna get put out indefinitely, so we'll have a ruling there. And you know, look, as
Starting point is 00:05:22 I said at the beginning, you know, I would certainly like to be talking about now legislation that can be passed to help people gain access to more healthcare, to improve quality of living. But right now we are seeing some of the foundations established by our framers working, even if in small ways. Let's bring on Michael Popok here. And, um, again, it's why our voices always matter. And I never buy into anybody who says it's over. Woe is me. You and I, before doing Legal AF, you still now,
Starting point is 00:06:01 are trial lawyers and trial lawyers who tell you that they've never lost a case or a big case, they're not trying a lot of cases. Let me be very clear. So when you lose, you're upset, but you get back up and you work harder than ever. Michael Popa. Yeah, absolutely. That's the joke among trial lawyers.
Starting point is 00:06:19 If somebody tells you they haven't lost a case, they haven't tried enough cases. That's just the way that is. But I wanted to first thank and congratulate the audience of Midas Touch, the community here, the Legal AF community, because I do subscribe to the hummingbird theory and I do believe that our training, our focus on it here on this side of the microphone and the reaction and the action taken on the other side, the audience, helped bring down Gates. We talked about everybody's got two senators in every state, reach out and contact them because we need to throw a backbone into the Senate
Starting point is 00:06:58 at the right moment. The fear was, and I think it's over now, to be honest, I think the Gates The fear was, and I think it's over now, to be honest, I think the Gates affair, it has no pun intended, has also shown in that test run, in that dress rehearsal, that there is no political will for the majority of the Senate, even the Republican majority of the incoming Senate, to be taken out in the back and be shot by Donald Trump along with the Constitution. They're just not going to go into recess in order to give Donald Trump free run to slam in without public hearing and without a confirmation process and violate Article 1 of the Constitution, all of these crazed candidates for the cabinet, certainly not for Matt Gaetz.
Starting point is 00:07:43 You can see that how quickly Donald Trump, we're gonna talk about it in each segment today, how quickly Donald Trump quickly named somebody else to replace Gaetz within hours. He's got a plan B behind all of the crazy plan A's. And we just have to see and give support to those members of Congress. And I don't just mean the Democratic ones.
Starting point is 00:08:05 In the Senate, particularly, one of the reasons Gates is not moving forward and is not gonna even be in Congress, he's completely resigned in that regard, is because Joni Ernst, or should I call her Lieutenant Colonel, Senator, Joni Ernst, who got passed over for the Department of Defense position that she wanted desperately, as a battle warrior herself
Starting point is 00:08:27 and also got passed over for the number three position in the Senate. She wanted to be the whip and old white guys got that position too. But she, at the right moment with Cornyn, met with Gates and J.D. Vance and said, you're not getting this position and you're not going to run away from the sex crimes allegations that are in the report. And so you better step down. I expect her to take the lead with Hegseth. And there's a couple of people I want to focus our attention on during this particular show. One of them, of course, when we get to Pete Hegseth. And not just, it's strange to say, not just the rape allegation, although that's disqualifying enough, but the
Starting point is 00:09:05 things that he's written in his books about, and they're not historical fiction, they're his thinking about the role of the military in a civil war against the Democrats, which also makes him obscenely unfit to be in the Pentagon and run the Pentagon. But I also want to focus on this show on the new head of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vaught and the importance of that position and also him being the chief architect of Project 2025. We got a lot to talk about, some good things that came out of the Gates failure, which you let off with, and then some things we've got to now train our sights on and train our
Starting point is 00:09:42 fire on in order to make sure these people, these other people that you just, you've just said, don't pass. He's going to get half his cabinet confirmed. You know, we'll get to it. Pat Bondi, Pam Bondi is going to get confirmed as attorney general. You know, the new treasury secretary he just picked is going to get confirmed. confirmed. The Marco Rubio state gonna get confirmed. But RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and Hegseth, which undermine our national security and compromise our national interests, we have to draw the line and fight. And it starts here, to promote it here on Legal IF. You mentioned the new Treasury Secretary nominee, the only one Trump's nominated thus far, Scott Besant. He was George Soros' chief investment officer
Starting point is 00:10:33 before starting his own hedge fund. It's just ironic that the last eight years, all we've heard was George Soros this, George Soros funded this, George Soros, you know, money this, and actually George Soros funded this. George Soros money this. And actually George Soros' money guy is now the Treasury Secretary. Let me show you what my friend George Takai posted on Blue Sky. By the way, that's where you can find us now. Much better than Twitter X, I'll just say that. George Takai goes, it's not a Russian spy ring that you're
Starting point is 00:11:05 looking at in this photograph. It's a justice department graphic showing Venmo payments to girls by Gates and Greenberg. You know, MAG has spent all these years talking about these child sex trafficking rings, defaming Democrats with these conspiracies about Pizza Gate and all of these things. sex trafficking rings, defaming Democrats with these conspiracies about Pizza Gate and all of these things. Well, pull up that graphic one more time, Salty, because this graphic is real
Starting point is 00:11:32 and these lines represent payments that were made to sex workers and to children. We also got all of the data from Matt Gates, as well as his purportedly adopted son, not fully sure if it was really adopted, Nestor, who is the son of a woman that Gaetz was seeing as well separately. Here we see over here the payments that were made, total of $10,000 in payments,
Starting point is 00:12:03 and then the notes to the girls being awesome, just because being my friend, there are other ones for cartridges. I mean, this is some really gross stuff right here. And look, we've talked about Gates before and we don't need to relitigate this now. I think the report absolutely still needs to be released. But wow, Michael Popak, those Republicans were sure ready to cover up child sex trafficking. They were rushing to cover it up. They were blaming the media for it. And one of the things that Donald Trump did during this awful transition
Starting point is 00:12:39 thus far was basically expose literally the entire rubble Republican party as being a pro sex trafficking party. I mean, that's what they did. was basically exposed literally the entire Republican Party as being a pro sex trafficking party. I mean, that's what they did. Yeah, even when Linda McMahon from World Wrestling Federation fame or infamy, I was like, all right, well, the women are at the kids table in the cabinet
Starting point is 00:13:11 until they switched Pam Bondi for Gates, Donald Trump's top four cabinet picks for the four big positions, Treasury, state, attorney general, and defense. Those are the big four. The rest are okay, but those are the four. All men, all white men, many of them, except for Marco Rubio, had some sort of sex crime and or harassment charge against them, including, or that's them. Then you go down to the kids table where you got RFK Jr. He's got sex allegations against him that he sexually assaulted a nanny that's out there.
Starting point is 00:13:45 Then you've got Linda McMahon, who's the Department of Education nominee, and all she's going to do is put that department out of its misery, hollow it out, and have its budget. But she's supposed to protect America's children, and she's now been sued in a new case because it's a allegations are she and her husband employed a pedophile Knowing that he was a pedophile who groomed and raped under 13 year old boys who worked for World Wrestling Federation New suit just got filed in Maryland. I was like, well, there's the one woman. Oh, no, that didn't work either It's just you know We would never as a party as the Democrats or as independents or free-thinking people, it would all be everything you and I are talking about here would be disqualifying events.
Starting point is 00:14:30 It's just the sane washing that's gone on coupled with Trump fatigue where in other networks, it's just reported like today it's partly cloudy and 58 degrees. Bill another sex, it's just like a normal, like they're ordering tuna fish salad for lunch. And that's why you and I are always with our hair on fire, because it's important to say that this makes them unfit. We shouldn't even be talking about a confirmation process. And if we are, senators do your job and interrogate appropriately at the confirmation hearings
Starting point is 00:15:04 about these people's body of work. Let me dispel the notion though that the selection of Matt Gaetz was some part of four dimensional chess in order to then bring in Pam Bondi. It wasn't unless your four dimensional chess game was to expose Republicans in the house and most in the Senate of being pro-sex trafficking. If that was the case, then checkmate. You really own the libs with that one.
Starting point is 00:15:30 But on the same day that Matt Gaetz announced that he would be withdrawing his name as the AG pick, Trump and his team were out there putting the full court press against Republican senators, since they have enough votes. If the Republicans would all rush to confirm Matt Gaetz and they were threatening the Republican senators. And what they were saying was you will buy yourself a primary that Elon Musk will fund against you if you refuse to support Matt Gaetz. This was the reporting from ABC and it was confirmed by a Trump advisor who said,
Starting point is 00:16:05 we're going to make Elon Musk buy a primary against you if you don't support a child sex trafficker. Here, play this clip. But we're also told that behind the scenes, the Trump team has been playing hardball and they've been giving an ominous warning to any Senate Republicans who might oppose his nominees. One Trump advisor telling her John Carl that the message is quote, if you are on the wrong side of the vote, you're buying yourself a primary. That is all. Okay, let's talk about Pam Bondi now. Obviously the follow-up to that clip is that didn't work, obviously, and Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from nomination.
Starting point is 00:16:43 Can I make, before you move on to Bondi, one thing that dovetails with that, they're actually right now through Tim Parlattore, who used to represent Donald Trump until he fired him when Mar-a-Lago went sideways and Trump wasn't listening to Parlattore about how to handle the return of the documents. Parlattore now represents Hegseth and he's gone on Breitbart and threatened – we're going to get to Hegseth – threatened the woman who claims she was raped by Hegseth and threatened her and said if they try to make Christine Blasey Ford out of her – listen to this connectivity here – who was the very truthful and authentic sworn witness against,
Starting point is 00:17:25 uh, Kavanaugh who said that he assaulted her that we all remember now. If they try that they're going to sue her because they're going to claim she was the aggressor and to try to intimidate her because she signed a non-disclosure agreement in court. That's a part of their playbook, right? And I've read that police report. We'll talk about it in a bit. I mean, it is horrific. Even if you read what Hegsith says happened, it is absolutely disgusting and disqualifying.
Starting point is 00:17:53 Even if you accept what he said, it is appalling and disqualifying. And then when you read what she said went down, it is some of the most heinous behavior imaginable. I want to talk about Pam Bondi, the pick for attorney general who replaced Matt Gates. So I'll say this. I didn't know who Pam Bondi was until the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, the first one.
Starting point is 00:18:21 And she gave the oral argument on behalf of Trump. Then I learned that she was the attorney general of Florida for about nine years. That's a big position. Florida, one of the biggest states, most populous states, being the attorney general of Florida, all of those years, it's a very big, it's a very big job. Okay. But then I watched her oral argument and look there are people who have different skill sets. Just not all lawyers are good oral advocates. She was
Starting point is 00:18:51 not a good advocate for oral argument at least. It was very bad. She couldn't really put sentences together and I'm just objectively observing what went down. So they sidelined her from basically giving more speeches during the impeachment trial after she was just she was not she didn't have the facts. She didn't know what was really going on here. Watch this. Until April of 2019. We also know that... She was answering a question, what did Hunter Biden do with the money that was paid to him?
Starting point is 00:19:50 And, you know, her whole portion of that was to talk about Hunter Biden and she didn't know what she was doing. But, you know, she then was kind of Donald Trump's kind of hype person in the background and would go to these events and, you know, give the pre-planned speeches and do the Fox stuff. And yeah, we got to lock up Hillary, lock her up. Yeah. You know, here, watch this where she says, uh, lock her up.
Starting point is 00:20:17 I love that regarding Hillary. This is a 20, this is at the 2016 Republican national convention. Lock her up. I love that. Stay with me. Also, you know, she received about $25,000 from one of Donald Trump organization when the attorney general's office in Florida was going to be from one of Donald Trump organization, when the attorney general's office in Florida
Starting point is 00:20:48 was gonna be investigating crimes relating to Trump University. That was back in 2013. Then she became close allies with Trump after she dropped the investigation into Trump University. Remember there was a civil fraud case against Trump University that Trump settled out with the victims of the Trump fraud. But then remember in 2020, during, right after the election,
Starting point is 00:21:14 she was one of the first people to literally jump in her car to go to Philadelphia with Rudy Giuliani and then lie about the 2020 results. And I think it's important as you see right now, like that's not what Kamala is doing. That's not what anyone's like. Like right now, that's just not what's happening. I mean, Kamala, President Biden are doing a transition of power over, but this is what they were doing back in 2020. This is Pam Bondi in Philadelphia in 2020, play this clip.
Starting point is 00:21:46 Hey everyone, we wanted to give you an update. They are still not in compliance. Our votes are being suppressed. We cannot count the votes properly. What's happening is they have moved the barrier up to 16, but they took away the ballot machines that were in the front row and moved them to the back of the building. It's unbelievable what they're trying to do to our votes that have been legally cast, whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, your legal votes must
Starting point is 00:22:21 be tabulated and they're not doing that. They will not let us see anything. They're trying to drown us All right. I want to remind everybody about the Legal AF YouTube channel. Make sure you are subscribed there. It's led by Michael Popok, the intersection of law and politics. It's more important now than ever, and it's rapidly growing. So make sure you're subscribed to Legal AF YouTube.
Starting point is 00:22:55 And if you are subscribed to Legal AF YouTube, please put the blue heart in the chat right now. Popok, I wanna get your take on Pam Bondi. Then I wanna pivot your take on Pam Bondi. Then I wanna pivot to Hexeth, as well as the new OMB appointee by Donald Trump, the architect of 2025. Let's take our first quick break.
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Starting point is 00:29:26 So a link to the discount codes are in the description below. Popak, where we last left, we were talking about Pam Bondi, former Florida attorney general. I showed the various clips of her in the impeachment trial, her rushing to Philadelphia to claim non-existent election fraud, um, and be by Giuliani's side.
Starting point is 00:29:49 Talk to us about bond. And then if you can, after bondy, um, talk about some of these other picks that you mentioned. Yeah, absolutely. Having practiced and practicing in Florida, I know Pam bondy pretty well. Um, I haven't been opposed to her. I haven't been opposed to her literally as an attorney general, but I do know her and know her back background pretty well. I haven't been opposed to her. I haven't been opposed to her literally as an attorney general, but I do know her and know her background pretty well. I mean, she served on a couple of governors in Florida, all Republican. She's been angling for that attorney general job for Donald Trump for a long, long time.
Starting point is 00:30:19 I was actually surprised she wasn't the first pick, but again, I think it was a matter of Donald Trump only wanted white men to be in the first four picks, and she was now the second. As I said earlier, and I'm only half joking, she's going to fly through and get confirmed despite all of the criticism that we're going to level at her right now. As I joked, a chimpanzee smoking a cigarette and wearing a diaper could get the attorney general position now following Gates as long as he didn't have a rape conviction. And Bondi's going to get it regardless. So she's got her own problems.
Starting point is 00:30:54 As you said, she actually directly solicited that $25,000 contribution from Donald Trump. That's the reporting. And then she was going to join with other attorney generals around the country, which they often do. We'll talk a lot on Legal AF and on the Legal AF channel about in the future, in the near future, attorney generals, especially ones that are Democratic, going after the Trump administration for violating constitutional law, the Administrative Procedures Act, and different ways we're going to pin down Donald Trump in the future with these lawsuits. But she was going to join with the then Attorney General, not Letitia James, Eric Schneiderman, who sort of went down in flames over some corruption scandals of his own.
Starting point is 00:31:35 But he did take down Trump University, made them pay a $2 million fine, and closed their doors. Florida was going to join that until she solicited a $25,000 contribution to her campaign. And then lo and behold, she said, well, it's not really the proper use of funds in Florida. And she walked away and then walked right into the inner circle of Donald Trump. First impeachment trial, terrible advocate, but as you showed, it was almost painful to watch.
Starting point is 00:32:02 I don't think she's tried a case in a long, long time. She was a prosecutor, kind of like Kamala, but not Kamala in Tampa area in Florida. That's how she, but then by the time you get to be attorney general, you don't try cases anymore. Even Letitia James doesn't try cases anymore. And it shows. She's not gonna do that at the Department of Justice either.
Starting point is 00:32:18 Now the problem with Pam Bondi is because of her close relationship with Donald Trump, is it just naturally fits with the weaponization of the Department of Justice that's going to go on. For those in our audience and around the world, we have, since the Nixon era, we have cherished having an independent Department of Justice and Attorney General, an independent FBI for good reason. Even though it's in the executive branch, we've seen the reasons in the past why that's important. To Donald Trump, to the Federalists,
Starting point is 00:32:49 to the Heritage Foundation, that is a four-letter word in dependence of the Department of Justice, no such thing. Pam Bondi's going to be meeting regularly, by phone, lunch, or otherwise, with Donald Trump at least once a week, to go over his naughty list, right? He's dark Santa now. These are all the people he wants to retaliate against.
Starting point is 00:33:10 We already have reporting on the Midas Touch Network and illegal AF about him announcing yesterday that he's going after, and not only that Jack Smith having already announced that he's going to, he's not gonna wait around to be fired. He's gonna finish his report, which is what he's doing right now. I'm looking at my watch like, is it done yet?
Starting point is 00:33:27 It's almost done. And the Mar-a-Lago and the DC election interference case, turn it into Merrick Garland for Merrick Garland before Jan 3rd, when the new Congress comes in, to release it. We hope all that happens. But there's people below Jack Smith that Karen Freeman-Iknifilow and I talked about on the midweek edition, all of the career line prosecutors who are career prosecutors who have been there for 20 and 30 years who are, as Merrick Garland put it at a recent farewell address, are the Department of Justice.
Starting point is 00:33:59 They are the legacy. They are the institutional knowledge. They need to stay in their seats so that whoever is at the top can't implement all of their worst ideas. But Donald Trump's not going to do that. And Pam Bondi is not going to be the person to hold him back. In fact, she's going to implement it, meaning they're going to go after everybody that was on Jack Smith's team, everybody that supported it in main justice. Everybody in the FBI is going to get hollowed out by some combination of whoever he picks in Cash Patel
Starting point is 00:34:27 and all that. They're all gonna work together to weaponize. We're gonna talk about Russ Vought in a minute, who I don't want people to lose sight of how important the Office of Management and Budget is. It is the nation's checkbook, okay? If he wants to eliminate entitlements to Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid and student loans and Department of Education, it's going to go through
Starting point is 00:34:50 Russ Fott. And Russ Fott is known as the father of or the chief architect of Project 2025. He is a right-wing Christian nationalist like Pete Hegseth. And he is, and just recently, he, he, this is, I'm talking about Russ Vaught now, he said that if in any meeting, anyone says that the Department of Justice needs to be independent, they are to be immediately removed from their room and removed from the White House meeting rooms. He left out, taken him to the back and shot, but that was sort of the implication. So this is the group that got into power, not in a landslide. We'll talk about that later. Not in a landslide. Okay.
Starting point is 00:35:33 Just an election where Kamala Harris got a lot less votes than she should have. People sat out the democracy for four years, and this is the result. But they all see it as empowerment to implement, that the American people want them to implement the worst principles and ideals of Project 2025, which we're going to continue to talk about. So Pam Bondi is a wet noodle. She's not going to stop any of this. And this is what I question when we get to the Hexseth thing. There is reporting, and I don't mean reporting, I mean testimony in books. Mark Esper, who used to be one of the many defense secretaries for Donald Trump, in one of his books said, think about this Ben, this next part, I'm getting a chill and I haven't
Starting point is 00:36:13 even said it yet, that Donald Trump wanted to shoot protesters in Lafayette Park behind the White House. First Amendment American US citizen protesters. He wanted them shot. This is Mark Esper's testimony. And only Mark Esper talked him out of it. Who's going to talk Donald Trump out of shooting Americans when he gets into office? Not Pam Bondi, not Pete Hegseth.
Starting point is 00:36:39 Who? No one. And that is the problem that we were talking about when you and I and others on this network said the bridge is out ahead. We're hurtling our democracy down this road. There's no bridge ahead. You can't vote for Donald Trump and Democrats get off your couches and go vote. Now that didn't happen.
Starting point is 00:36:59 And now we're here on the other side trying to figure out how to pick up the pieces and pin down these people. It starts with the confirmation process and us as a united force here, the Midas Touch Force, the Legal AF Force, reinforcing what the Senate needs to do to take people like, well, Pam Bondi is not going to get out, but take people like Pete Hegseth out. Now, Pam Bondi is going to have an assistant, right? A deputy attorney general. He's going to get confirmed. That's Todd Blanch. That's the best functioning criminal defense lawyer that Donald Trump had. No other way to put it. I got to tip my hat. I mean, he was able to avoid criminal jail. If he couldn't avoid the convictions,
Starting point is 00:37:43 he avoided the trials altogether or had them dismissed and now sentencing is delayed. So he's got the number two job, which is basically the chief operating officer who's gonna run, at least he was in the US Attorney's office, but he's a maga, he's a maga, maga, goo goo now. And so this is that group at the Department of Justice. So what we want is, we don't want,
Starting point is 00:38:04 even though Donald Trump's gonna go after them, we don't want this group of career main justice prosecutors to leave, because then we're cooked. And they can't hollow out the entire department in just four years. I mean, that's the one saving grace we have. It's only a four year term. It could be eight year term,
Starting point is 00:38:22 and then we'd really be talking about things. But you wanna switch gears now and talk about the other candidates? Yeah, let's take a look at this video of Pete Hegsif when he was asked about the sex assault allegations. His response was, as far as the media is concerned, he said that he was cleared of all charges. First off, he wasn't cleared. And it's also a very strange phrasing as far as the media is concerned, because again, he lives in his Fox bubble of the weekend, you know, propaganda. You're going to have access to the nuclear codes. Okay. You have the most significant position, a civilian position in our entire military structure. And again, in addition to the sex assault allegations, this is someone who, yes, he served in the National Guard.
Starting point is 00:39:16 But just think about what the MAGA Republicans said about Governor Walls is substantially longer and higher ranking service in the National Guard than Pete Hegseth number one. But number two there was no like like it was no like leadership position. I mean right now we have Lloyd Austin a former four-star general is the Secretary of Defense. That's the type of person put in that position clear. So here's what Heengstead says. Let's play it. You know, when you talk about him and you talk about some of the other picks, I want to remind people though, another important, I think, legal win, and this is what led to Matt Gaetz to withdraw his name, is that at least enough senators stood up and said,
Starting point is 00:40:21 we're gonna go hold hearings. And I think some of the senators probably even told Trump when it came to Gates, we may still confirm the guy. And some of the people, the Murkowski's and the Collins and the McConnell's and some of these people, and Thune, I think that they may have ended up, who knows? But at least their point where they're standing on business or I say the constitution is we're holding these hearings. So as you talk about some of these other people,
Starting point is 00:40:51 I want you to all imagine that guy getting cross-examined by Senator-elect and soon to be Senator Adam Schiff or being cross-examined by other senators who are actually very good at this and want to make a name for themselves as well during these hearings. So Popeye, talk about some other stuff with Exith in his book, but they're going to be grilled and cross-examined and a lot of these unqualified. Could you imagine the RFK one where they're going to say, so let's be clear, RFK, you said that kids turned gay from drinking water? That's your- That's your-
Starting point is 00:41:30 Fluoride, it's all fluoride. The confirmation process I think is going to be led against somebody like Heg Sith. I'm calling on her here to do it by Lieutenant Colonel Senator Joni Ernst, who got passed over for the Department of Defense, who according to reporting is the reason Gates withdrew because he met with her in Cornyn. And they basically said, we're not dropping the sex crimes allegations against you. And that report must be really bad because he just torched his entire career. I mean, you think he doubled back and maybe run for the special election and probably
Starting point is 00:42:03 win from that first district. And I'm talking about Gates now in Florida. No, no, he'd double back and maybe run for the special election and probably win from that first district and I'm talking about Gates now in Florida. No, no, he's moving on probably because he's going to get a pardon from Trump and then they'll stash him away somewhere in the administration in a position that doesn't require confirmation. There's many of those. I could see him, Frank, staying on Gates for a minute. I could see him joining Rob Swamy and Musk on the fake blue ribbon panel department, non-department thing about government efficiency that Marjorie Taylor Greene is now going to be the point
Starting point is 00:42:32 person for in the house. But that's not the one. That's all bullshit that we're going to focus on Russ Vought in a minute. Back on Hegseth, Hegseth's, the rape allegation enough would be enough for me not to have him confirmed. When he's cross-examined about his views on the military and the things that he's written in a dozen books, look, this guy never thought he was going to be running, I can't even say this word, running the Pentagon.
Starting point is 00:42:59 He's been in hair and makeup for 14 years at Fox and Friends Weekend Edition, not even the main show. This guy was writing books with his oily slick back hair and like his good looks and everything, tattoos and everything, just because he thought this is my career. My career is shilling books and doing Fox and Friends and that's not running the Pentagon.
Starting point is 00:43:21 So he wrote things that he probably regrets now. So Lieutenant Colonel Joni Ernst, Senator Tammy Duckworth, right, who lost her legs as a wounded veteran, is going to grill him about his comments, listen to this, that women should not be in combat roles in the military. He just stole the valor of 40 years of American women who gave the greatest sacrifice, including Tammy Duckworth, of course, who lost her legs in a helicopter crash. He just, talking about stolen valor, he just stole that valor. Mr. Major and his local National Guard, and when he's cross-examined by them and others
Starting point is 00:44:05 that have been in the military about the positions. The new book, the new information about American crusade and his whole combination, this confluence of Christian nationalist right-wing with the military scares the crap out of me. Considering they want World War III because they want an apocalypse in order to install heaven on earth, he writes it. He also writes in his book, American Crusade, that he envisions a moment in time where the US military is going to have to choose and not be on the sidelines in an American civil war in which they're going to have to be used to crush, his words, intimidate Democrats, right?
Starting point is 00:44:52 And the liberals and the liberal elites that they're going to have to get off the sidelines, violate the Posse Comitatus Act, which says you can't use US military on domestic soil for domestic policy reasons, which we've had on the books since post-Civil War period. He's going to have to answer for many. Right now, people are finally buying his books. They're rocketing up the Amazon. I'm sure it's up to number 1,258 by now, all these ridiculous books that he's written.
Starting point is 00:45:19 I'm sure there's staffers that are just highlighting to hand, there's a cover, hand these pages to your new senator from California, from all the people that serve in the military. Cornyn's not happy either, by the way. Cornyn, who's a Republican, lost out the thune for the job he wanted, which is Senate Majority Leader. And right now, it looks like he's going to be part of the barrier to the crazier of the Senate picks. Hegseth is not qualified. He's unfit to run the Pentagon, and it's $850 billion budget and make decisions. And he's already said what the decisions are going to be. If you're a woman in the military, you're out of combat. It's crazy.
Starting point is 00:46:06 Transgender people in the military, you're out. You're drummed out of the core. He's in favor of the purge board run by former military who are going to recommend for removal, not just retirement, instant firing by the quote unquote commander in chief Donald Trump of three and four star generals, okay? Hollowing out our leadership and promoting junior people into leadership roles. Hey, you're a captain, but you're MAGA,
Starting point is 00:46:38 you're now a four star general. You're a lieutenant, you'd be nice around, you look like you're from central casting, you're gonna be the new joint chiefs of staff chairman. That's also from the fevered mind of Hegseth that he's gonna have to answer to. I see him dying a death of a thousand paper cuts in his, or worse, during his confirmation hearing,
Starting point is 00:46:58 but we need to train our sights on it and talk about it every day and every way until it's dead on the Midas Touch Network and on Legal AF. But now I want to talk about Russ Bought. Let's pause Russ Bought until we got to take a break and then I do want to plug your Legal AF YouTube channel. Can I say something about that? I want to thank everybody and I know you do too. 60,000 people have joined and subscribed to Legal AF, the YouTube channel, since election day. That's a testament, not just to what we're doing. That's a testament to our audience and them coming to us because we don't blow smoke or sunshine at that intersection of law and politics.
Starting point is 00:47:36 Let's take our last quick break of the show and we come back. I want to talk about vote and then I want to talk about what's going on in New York. Let's take our last quick break of the show. I'm so excited to share with you guys an incredible scientific breakthrough to support our long-term health and wellness. C15 is the first essential fatty acid to be discovered in 90 years. And get this, studies have confirmed that it's three times better, broader, and safer than omega-3.
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Starting point is 00:54:14 We're gonna talk about what's going on with the Office of Management and Budget, a big OMB cliffhanger. And then let's talk about what's going on in New York to land this Legal AF weekend plane. Thanks, Ben. There's probably no office among, of all the things we've talked about and all the cabinet positions that's going to touch more American lives for the negative, for the worse in the
Starting point is 00:54:38 hands of Donald Trump than the Office of Management and Budget. Reagan had Stockman, guys can look it up, who notoriously was a budget cutter, meaning Americans who rely on the social safety net, which is a lot of Americans, regardless of Stripe, Medicare, Medicaid, student loans, keeping kids out of poverty, giving them health care, health care, the Obamacare, all goes through the Office of Management and Budget. Stockman was the cutter for Reagan and Russ Vought, who is literally known and likes the compliment of being the chief architect of Project 2025, is back at Office of Management and Budget to be the cutter for Donald Trump.
Starting point is 00:55:25 So what we're going to watch is this, this is the choreographed moves that you're going to see among the branches of government with Donald Trump in charge. You're going to see the cabinet picks like Linda McMahon for education are going to hollow out and have their budgets and furlough people and fire them to make these departments non-existent, put them out of business slowly, shrink them. That's going to be supported by the House Oversight Committee led by Comer with a new subcommittee of the Department of Government Efficiency, a phony fake joke name for something that Elon Musk and Rob Swamy are running to make recommendations about how to cut the budget which comes through appropriations in the House supported by
Starting point is 00:56:20 the Office of Management and Budget run by by Russ Fawt, all roads coming down to entitlements. When you hear Republican MAGA say they're gonna cut trillions of dollars from the budget, that means they're taking away things that you've come to rely on in American society. It's called entitlements. And the word alone should make them think twice. People believe that they're entitled
Starting point is 00:56:45 to these things. They've worked hard. They've contributed their taxes, social security taxes, and the like, and they don't want them to go. I can't tell you how many texts and emails and chats that I'm sure you have too from people that have said, Popak, I'm really worried about, I live in a fixed income and I need this additional money and support. And why are they trying to take it away from me while they're giving fat cats and oligarchs and billionaires and trillionaires and they're giving them tax breaks again why are they doing that and it's so that is you know you put up the george takai map that's my map to keep an eye on this is going to be the syncopated choreographed thing with russ fought at the center and so he needs to be asked hard questions during the confirmation process, because if
Starting point is 00:57:27 he gets in, the rest of America needs to know what they just voted for in letting Donald Trump put this guy in charge of the American checkbook. And he and the, you know, they used to, when I was talking about Obamacare, which is going to be severely impacted by Russ Vought in a negative way. Back when they were challenging Obamacare back in 2012, the proto-MAGA, pre-MAGA used to run around and say, well, Obama's going to set up murder boards to kill your grandmother. Okay. Russ Vought's going to set up a murder board to kill your grandmother.
Starting point is 00:58:02 I mean, I don't know how to say this any differently. He is going to hold the checkbook and it's going to be people's lives are hanging in the balance. I can't stress office of management and budget enough. It's not sexy. It's hard to say. It's not that interesting. It's easier to talk about defense and justice, but this is important.
Starting point is 00:58:19 And I want our group to link arms to oppose and to make their senators ask tough questions of Russ Fott. Finally, let's chat about what's going on in New York. Some interesting developments this past week. I mean, obviously in terms of the sentencing, I think both the district attorney's office and Trump's lawyers were all, um, you know, not, you know, the last sentencing date being pushed off. But in terms of this motion to dismiss the charges against Donald Trump, were you surprised, Michael Popak, that Justice Mershon is going to, you know, hear this and rule on it in December? I mean, there will be a ruling on this and that ruling will go through the Supreme Court's decision on absolute immunity
Starting point is 00:59:12 and you know, it will go through all the facts of this trial. It'll be interesting to see what Mershon does. What do you think about this? I want to rewrite the headline that corporate media put out there which is Donald Trump will never see it inside of a jail cell. Bershaw has postponed it indefinitely, focusing on this one word that he put, which only in New York where I practice, only means I'm not going to reschedule for the time being. It doesn't mean it's killed. It doesn't mean it ended. Let me bring everybody up to speed quickly. There was a motion to dismiss that Donald Trump filed a long time ago on immunity, claiming that even though almost the entirety of the crime that he was convicted of, the
Starting point is 00:59:50 Stormy, Dangle, Hush Money, Cover-Up, election interference, mouthful of a criminal case, where 12 jurors, fair and impartial in New York, convicted him of 34 counts of felony counts of crimes. The question was whether any of that was, he was immune under the presidential immunity decision from last July. How could he be, most people would say, because almost the entirety of the crime, the actual payoff took place before he was president.
Starting point is 01:00:20 That was the point, to interfere with the election, to beat Hillary Clinton. The payback to Michael Cohen of the money, some of it happened while he was in office, but that's not the crime. The crime is the payoff. And so that had been fully brief, that issue of immunity. And we were expecting on the 12th of November, Mershan to issue his ruling because he said he was. All of a sudden, the weekend before, Donald Trump after the election decided to approach the Manhattan DA's office and say,
Starting point is 01:00:51 we're gonna file a new motion because our guy just got elected. We don't know what to call it yet. Maybe the interest of justice motion. I'm not making this up, this is what they called it. Because, you know, president-elect, and he can't be interfered with either, and president-elects can't be sentenced, and you know, no law for that, no constitutional provision for that, you know, president-elect, and he can't be interfered with either, and president-elects can't be sentenced,
Starting point is 01:01:05 and, you know, no law for that, no constitutional provision for that, you know, and immunity, and, you know, they just, it's like, literally, it's like kitchen magnet poetry. It's just words that they throw out, you know, and they, with no case law, no analysis, and these letter briefs, which is scary, because the guy that writes these letters
Starting point is 01:01:21 is the guy that's gonna be the number two in the Department of Justice, Todd Blanch. But listen, he's been successful to a certain degree so far. So the Manhattan DA said, you're going to file another motion? I'm going to talk like a New Yorker now. Yeah. You want a piece of me? You're going to file another motion on this other thing?
Starting point is 01:01:37 All right. What do you want to have at? Well, we don't want them to issue the immunity decision yet. Okay. So they joined together and said to the judge, put a pin in your, you're about to issue it, but don't issue it. We want a week, this was the Manhattan DA, we want a week because of the unprecedented circumstances, everybody using the same phrase out of Jack Smith's toolbox, to come back to you about what our position is about any and all of this. If it changed, did the world change on November 5th or didn't it? When it comes to this case and this post-conviction,
Starting point is 01:02:05 change on November 5th or didn't it? When it comes to this case and this post conviction, pre-sentencing event. And they said, fine. Judge said, fine. I was about to issue it, but I won't issue it. And then we got the competing filings on the 19th and the 20th of November, which was the Manhattan DA saying, look, we got the solution. You've got to do competing balancing act here, Judge. We understand that. On the one side, you've got the interest of public justice. A jury has spoken and they need to be respected. On the other hand, you've got the office of the presidency,
Starting point is 01:02:34 not Trump, but the office of the presidency and the president-elect issue. And you got to balance it. We got the solution. Just delay for now. That was the Manhattan DA's recommendation. Just delay, give them briefing on their new motion Whatever it is, so the record is clear. But but do it quick first first week in December. That's the briefing
Starting point is 01:02:54 everybody does it you make your ruling before the inauguration and then we Agree to postpone sentencing to get to allow these the substantive issues to be resolved through appeal. The other side, as expected, demanded the immediate dismissal of the convictions, which is not even a thing. They were moving to vacate, which is the right term, and overturn the convictions because Donald Trump had the fortune and we had the misfortune of him being elected and was now president-elect. He's not actually president-elect yet, by the way. We know when that is. That's on
Starting point is 01:03:31 Jan 6th, but we know where this is going. So the first line in their letter to the judge was, dismiss immediately. And their last line was, dismiss immediately. And so the judge had had these two competing papers. And so what he ruled was what I said he was going to rule on one of my hot takes on Legal AF, which is he was going to adopt the Manhattan DA's very thoughtful, very sober way to handle this, including the briefing schedule deadline, because Donald Trump was like, we'll get around to it, maybe the end of December, we'll give you a motion. Yeah, no. Here's what the judge ruled. The judge ruled everybody here on the either, on both sides, prosecutor and criminal, criminal, yeah he's a criminal, convicted criminal, agree that I should postpone the sentencing scheduled for November
Starting point is 01:04:17 26 to allow the parties to brief these issues. I'm gonna do that. Okay, so we're like, alright, everybody ran with that headline. Definitely postpone. That's not what he said. He said, I'm going to postpone it as long as by the 2nd of December, Monday, a week Monday after Thanksgiving. Trump, you file this thing you say you're going to file. This is an interest of justice motion. I'll also hold on issuing my already prepared immunity decision to give you time to do the briefing.
Starting point is 01:04:46 I think that's a loser for Trump already, but he's going to put it on ice. You do all that, December 2nd for you. If you don't do it, I'm going forward on the 26th, but assume he doesn't. You, Manhattan DA, you got a week. December 9th, you file yours, no replies. That's all I want, two briefs. I'll make the decision from there. And then once I see that, so let's just play it out. December 9th, full briefing. Within days, the judge is gonna issue his immunity decision,
Starting point is 01:05:15 which is gonna be, is my prediction, against Donald Trump, finding that the immunity decision for the Supreme Court does not apply to this particular set of events at all. He's then gonna turn to the briefing on the interest of justice. Does the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, coupled with the fact that he's gonna be the president, but he's not yet the president,
Starting point is 01:05:32 does that affect sentencing? And he's gonna say no, okay? He's gonna say that none of that, we're in uncharted waters, yes. We've never had a convicted criminal get reelected to the presidency. You'd think for good reason, but we've never had that before. get reelected to the presidency. You'd think for good reason, but we've never had that before. And I've sorted through the case law, none of which has been helpful provided by Donald
Starting point is 01:05:51 Trump. This is my artist rendering of Mershon. And I'm going to deny it. Okay? But I'm going to suspend my decision for 30 days, go file, the loser was always going to file an appeal. The appeals, I think, probably start in state court with two levels, but eventually get
Starting point is 01:06:10 to the United States Supreme Court. He's gonna hold off sentencing until the case eventually gets returned to him, by the Supreme Court or by the New York highest courts, whatever. I don't think that happens until after Trump is inaugurated, meaning sometime in late 2025. Then you got the new issue. How do you sentence the guy or make him participate in sentencing while he's now the office of the president? You now have
Starting point is 01:06:38 the argument that he's being distracted from his duties and has to go back and face the music for his crimes, and do we delay that whole thing until he's citizen Trump once again. But that's for another day. So everybody that ran with Hill never see the inside of a jail. I'm not so sure about that. In fact, I think he will get sentenced because what, I'll leave it on this, Ben, what the Manhattan DA said, which is so right, is all we're talking about is a temporary condition.
Starting point is 01:07:09 They called it a temporary immunity at best. In other words, it's like a virus you get over the weekend. Eventually it clears. The temporary immunity is he won't be president forever. And when he stops being president, he stops having any of the trappings of the presidency, including immunity. Sentence him then, make him serve his time then.
Starting point is 01:07:26 Because the Manhattan DA is not just tamped down on the enthusiasm in our chat. The Manhattan DA is not going to make him serve jail time or argue that while he's president. But when he's not president in 2029, he's 82 years old or whatever he is, that's a whole different story. That's how I read out what just transpired
Starting point is 01:07:47 with all of the briefings and Judge Brachan's ruling. Popak, take us out with some good news though about the federal judges who are being confirmed in the Senate. I think one fourth of all circuit court judges right now have been appointed by Biden, and of all circuit court judges, the court been appointed by Biden and of all circuit court judges, the court of appeals throughout the country have been
Starting point is 01:08:09 appointed by Biden and confirmed by Schumer's leadership of the Senate. Also about what 215, 216 federal judges confirmed so far some real qualified people. We don't have to get into it here because we've talked about it on prior shows you do a lot of hot takes on it, but the robust role of federal judges are some real qualified people. We don't have to get into it here because we've talked about it on prior shows. You do a lot of hot takes on it, but the robust role of federal judges right now, it's gonna be more important than ever, especially as the Supreme Court overturned
Starting point is 01:08:37 what's called a Chevron Doctrine, which used to give a ton of deference to agency actions. And now it either is decided in the first instance by a clear expression of Congress and there's a more robust role for federal judges now in not giving deference to agencies. So all of these, you know, people who Donald Trump are appointing in a pre-Supreme Court striking down Chevron, this decision world, agencies would have more power. Agencies have now been neutered by federalists' doctrine,
Starting point is 01:09:14 trying to, you know, saying that's the deep state in action, get rid of the agencies, it should be more decided by federal judges, because then what they would do is they'd find that judge in the Northern District or Eastern District of Texas, get a case in front of them. Issue nationwide injunctions and block agency action, um, without showing deference. So anyway, we'll, we'll do it. We've done hot takes on that. That's not really here nor there,
Starting point is 01:09:38 but I want to let people know there's a bigger role for judges now, but, but just give us the raw numbers. 1000%. Good news is that Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin struck a deal with some Republicans who were dragging their feet. They're not in the majority in the lame duck 118th Republicans, but we have a very tenuous majority that's held together with tissue paper and chewing gum, including Joe Manchin, who doesn't give a crap anymore since he didn't run again. And he had a rule. It was the Manchin rule.
Starting point is 01:10:09 He would only vote with the majority of the Democrats if at least one Republican crossed over and voted for a judge candidate. That was it. And so if they couldn't get Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski or somebody else to join them because the rest of them, their sphincters have closed because Donald Trump keeps yelling at them about no more confirmations before inauguration because he wants all of them for himself.
Starting point is 01:10:32 Every conference, obviously, I'll state the obvious, every confirmation that doesn't happen under Joe Biden is one more that Donald Trump has on day one. So why give him a 20 point lead, in other words? And they were talking about lifetime federal judges here. This is really, really important. So the deal that was made, which is a little bit, you know, I'm a little bit of two minds about it, but I'll put it out there on the table, is that Chuck Schumer's office decided
Starting point is 01:10:55 that at least four of the circuit court, the appellate court judges couldn't get confirmed, probably because they couldn't get that one Republican over, including what would have been the first Muslim American to be on appellate court, to be on the circuit court. It's hard to believe we're this far along. It's also hard to believe that a number of Muslim Americans decided that Donald Trump was the right person to vote for. We're the ones that had the candidate up there to be the first Muslim American to be on the circuit court, and the Republicans won't even support it. And so they made a decision that in order to, they traded four
Starting point is 01:11:31 appellate court seats that are now going to, I'm just going to say it out loud, are going to go to Donald Trump. It's the Fourth Circuit, the First Circuit, the Third Circuit, and the Sixth Circuit. They are going to Donald Trump. In return, the Democrats believe they got about 20 more judge confirmations between now and Jan 3 than they would have had before. That was the stitch in times that saves nine. They sacrificed four to pick up at least three to four times that. You can spend, we will, and we'll do hot takes on it about the benefit of that or the transactional cost of that. But they felt like otherwise the Republicans were using every trick
Starting point is 01:12:12 in the book, every procedural stop they could. Oh, got to go to the bathroom. Oh, we got to use our quill pens today. Oh, oh no, we got to do a voice vote. Oh, no, no, no. And then, you know, then you got the Democrats who have been hanging together, but they gotta all be there all the time. And you know, then Thanksgiving is coming up, you know, it's starting to get difficult and we're running out of time. And that's what happens.
Starting point is 01:12:32 I mean, Donald Trump, for those that said, why didn't Joe Biden get them all confirmed at time? He was there for four years. I mean, even Donald Trump couldn't get the last 17 confirmed and turn them over to Joe Biden. But one of the things that, so that's a good news. One of the things I'm just going to put a little pin in and then you and I'll pick up on it in various ways on Legal AF from Midas Touch is my real fear and Court Accountability
Starting point is 01:12:57 Action which has joined us on Legal AF has this fear too, which is that they're going to try to expand the federal judiciary and pack the court when they're in control and Trump is there. There's always been this bipartisan call for more federal judges because the federal judges are overworked. By the time the criminal docket is done, there's very little time for the civil docket, judges have thousands and thousands of cases. There could easily be five more, three to five more judges in every district added. We're talking about hundreds of new judges. And there's never been the political will to do it, but you know the Republicans, they may try to give the gift that keeps on giving to Donald Trump and give him a hundred more picks than he would have
Starting point is 01:13:43 normally had. And we'll leave for another day, whether he tries that at the United States Supreme court, the thing that we wouldn't do that Biden wouldn't do is Trump going to try to do it and make it a 15 person Supreme court or a 13 or 12 or whatever it's going to be. So the good news is what we started with, but I want to keep, I want to manage expectations and keep our eye on the prize, which is we have to, we have to stop the expansion of the federal courts and the Supreme Court under the Senate majority,
Starting point is 01:14:11 which means we got to make them as lame duck as quick as possible and crush them at the midterms. I mean, you and I, I don't want people, I know people like, oh, that's might as touch just talking again about, you know, to make themselves relevant. No, no, we have to stay together to crush Trump in the midterms. When people find out through shows like ours,
Starting point is 01:14:29 what they voted for or what they didn't realize they were voting for happens. We have to be there to mobilize and crush them at the midterms while we pin them down in the court system through the thousands of lawsuits that'll be filed. And that's not because it's blue team, the red team, donkey versus elephant, it is because what Trump was saying to voters was a lie, right?
Starting point is 01:14:55 It's a lie when he says, I don't know what project 2025 is, where there's video of the guy who is the architect of project 2025 saying, look, Trump's just saying that because it's a branding thing. It's a bad brand for him to run on, but I'm going to be the guy. And then Trump appoints the guy to run the office of management and budget to implement project 2025. And that means it's an attack on your social security. It's an attack on your health care. It's an attack on your healthcare. It's attack on Medicare.
Starting point is 01:15:25 And it is a cash grab for the billionaires. And so as we start to see all of this take shape, and for all of the different groups out there that goes, oh, the bloody deportations, he was talking about them, not me. And for the people who were saying, no, not me, and for the people who were saying, no, not my union. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:15:47 When the National Labor Relations Board gets completely gutted, which by the way, is what Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos argued before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals this past week, right? What was Elon Musk's argument to the Fifth Circuit? That the National Labor Relations Board should not exist, that it doesn't have the authority to exist. And what Musk cited was a lot of the Supreme Court's recent precedent, which neutered the Securities and Exchange Commission's ability to adjudicate cases. Remember when we talked about that here? And so there's a linkage to all of this stuff.
Starting point is 01:16:31 So if Elon Musk is running this make believe agency called DOGE, and he's acting as a co-president and his whole policy is to destroy the National Labor Relations Board so that workers don't have a place to have a grievance. How do you think this is gonna work? And let's be clear, I mean, look, Trump's pick to lead the Department of Labor is actually someone who supports the PRO Act. And on paper, she seems to be someone who,
Starting point is 01:17:01 you know, in terms of all of who the picks can be, her name is Representative Lori Chavez-Durrimer in terms of Republicans, seems to be, you know, in terms of all of who the picks can be, their name is representative Laurie Chavez de Rima, in terms of Republicans, seems to be a, you know, a decently supportive person of labor. But when you get into it, it doesn't matter if you don't have a National Labor Relations Board existing in the first place, because then someone won't be able to do anything if there's no place, if there's no forum for a grievance or if unions aren't allowed to exist. So we're going to follow all of that and then what we have to do is we have to communicate directly to the people. As you know, politics is personal and you have to look people in the eyes
Starting point is 01:17:41 and you have to let people know that you care about them, not just through your policies, because clearly Biden's policies helped people who ended up not voting for Biden and Harris. So how could that be if your policies helped the people? Because I think also there is an element of it where you have to in your campaign, You have to in your campaign go to the people and just say it. Just say it. I care about you. I'm here for you. I will be here. I will fight for. I will be your fighter. People need to hear that. People need to hear that. And what Trump did was he said, I'm here to fight for you because them, they migrants and trans them, they, migrants
Starting point is 01:18:25 and trans people, they're coming to attack you. Trump lied, he divided us to give a cash grab to billionaires at Mar-a-Lago like himself, dividing us by culture wars. We don't have to play that game because the threat is real, not eating dogs and cats. It's eating away social security, Medicare, Medicaid, healthcare.
Starting point is 01:18:48 It's real what they want to do. They're coming for the unions. They're coming for your healthcare. So we got to message that. We got to talk about that. We got to keep growing our platform. Subscribe to the Legal AF YouTube channel. If you're subscribed here, that's Legal AF on YouTube.
Starting point is 01:19:03 Michael Popak leads that great channel. It's crushing it, great work. Michael Popok, and I wanna thank everybody for watching. Stay in there, stay in the fight. We're gonna certainly stay in the fight. And let me tell you, we do care about you. We are here with you every step of the way. Our whole team here, we ain't going nowhere. Thanks
Starting point is 01:19:26 for watching. Shout out Legal AFers, shout out Minus Me. The probability of being hit by lightning is less than 1 in 1 million. But when you hear that noise, you will probably run to cover yourself. Did you know that the probability of contracting Zona is 1 in 3 if you have already been hit by the varicelle? Why run the risk? Consult your doctor to find out how Shingrix can help you prevent Zona. The Shingrix vaccine helps protect adults against Zona. Total protection is not guaranteed. Undesirable effects can occur. Visit Shingrix.ca.

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