Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump Quickly Files VERY WEAK DISQUALIFICATION Appeal

Episode Date: January 3, 2024

No surprise that as his primary grounds to overturn the Maine Secretary of State’s decision banning him from the ballot Trump has bashed her, and called her a partisan hack that is too bias to rule in his favor. Michael Popok of Legal AF walks you through the weaknesses in Trump’s several “I am not an insurrectionist under the 14th Amendment” arguments contained in his 9 page petition, and why Trump’s tired personal attacks on another woman and/or person of color authority figure will fail too. Try Mosh today and use LEGALAF to save 20% plus free shipping at https://moshlife.com/LEGALAF 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

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Gamlin problem call 18665312600 or visit connectsontario.ca. This is Michael Popock, legal AF right on cue. Donald Trump has attacked the main secretary of state Shenabellos called their a partisan hack said that she's biased and should have recused herself as the number one ground for why the main superior court in a petition that Trump just filed, that's all of nine pages, arguing that the decision by the main secretary

of state last week, that based on her reading of main, unique statutory provisions about who gets to be on the ballot, and who makes the decisions about who gets to be on the ballot, and who makes the decisions about who gets to be on the ballot. The Donald Trump falsely claimed to be qualified for office when he has been disqualified by being involved as an insurrectionist or a rebel against the Constitution to squalifying him under the 14th Amendment Section 3. That's a decision that the state house of Maine has given that discretion to the Secretary of State under their statutory scheme to determine who can be on the ballot. And that fell to Shayna Bellows. Shayna Bellows used to be in the State House of Maine.

She was an elected official, making laws for about seven or eight years. But she got appointed, that's how it works in Maine. She got appointed by the main house to be the secretary of state. And it's the secretary of states generally, and certainly the state houses of each state that make the decision what to do about the 14th Amendment Section 3. Because on its face, it just says that anybody that engages in insurrection or rebellion against the Constitution, right? Cannot have a federal office where he's been sworn to uphold the Constitution.

That's what it says. But what do you do about it? Founding fathers, the framers of the Constitution never told us what to do with it. The Constitution didn't come with an owner's manual. Didn't come with a blueprint. You have to figure it out. I'll tell you what it doesn't say. It doesn't say you go back to Congress or the Electoral College and ask them what to do next, because it's so hard

to read plain English as it's been written. So the attack first, let me report on the attack on Shenabellos by Donald Trump. This has come as any shock whatsoever that he wasted almost all of his nine pages, Donald Trump, the very first argument that he makes, which we have to assume is his strongest argument, is that she's a Democrat. Okay, that's how politics work, Mr. Trump. People in the state house, people that are secretaries of state run for office, usually on party lines, where they get appointed to office by their state legislator or the house of where legislation is made.

And that's what happened to Shana Bellos. That she is a Democrat should come as no surprise in Maine that you think because she's a Democrat, she is fundamentally incapable from her DNA, the fiber of her being to make impartial decisions is both wrong headed and bordering again on misogyny. Why is it that every prosecutor, state attorney, secretary of state that Donald Trump takes issue with happens to be a woman and or a person of color? Why is that? Anybody think it's a coincidence out there? I don't. Let's turn to the actual petition that was filed by Donald Trump. Well, take us long. It's all of nine pages with very little

in the way of any supporting declarations or affidavits or evidence. So if you've come to this hot take wanting to hear the evidence that Donald Trump has to support all of his arguments leading with the Shenabellows as out the government as an ax the grind, you're not going to find it in what he's filed. They asked for a briefing schedule on the issues to happen over starting with the fifth of January all the way to the 16th of January with oral argument before the main superior court in Kennebec, and if I'm not pronouncing that properly in Maine, please tell me in the chat, but I think it's pronounced Kennebec in the superior court there in Maine.

So they've already agreed, there's one thing that they've agreed with the Secretary of State's office, is the briefing schedule, and we should have a decision soon after the 16th of January, but back to the nine pages, not we should have a decision soon after the 16th of January, but back to the nine pages, not to belabor the point. But let me just tell you what Donald Trump is actually saying. Let's start with page five of his grounds upon which relief is sought. Relief is sought on the grounds that the secretary's ruling was the product of a process infected by bias and pervasive lack of due process

as arbitrary and capricious and characterized by abusive discretion, affected by error of law, ultravirus and unsupported by substantial evidence on the record as follows. That's a mouthful. Now, you're thinking, well, what's the backup for that? It's very interesting, Mr. Trump, you got my attention. Now, we might have to wait till full briefing, but this is the petition that's been filed, the complaint, if you will.

The number one, we could have written this word, Donald Trump, though number one attack on the decision is an attack on the main secretary of state herself. Is that shock anybody? Donald Trump has attacked Judge Chutkin, the DC election interference judge, has attacked the prosecutor, Jack Smith, as well being partisan hacks.

He's used that same term for Judge Angkoran, up in New York in the New York civil fraud case, certainly for the New York Attorney General, Latisha James, certainly for the Fulton County prosecutor, Fawni Willis, certainly for the Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, and the judge up in the Stormy Daniels case, Judge Juan Mershon. Almost all of those people except for Jack Smith are people of color and or women or both. Shana Bellos falls into the woman category. And so it's always, the first thing out of the box is always an attack on the person. And so here he says on page five, that the secretary should have recused herself due to her

bias against President Trump as demonstrated by a documented history of prior statements pre-judging the interest, the issue presented. I'm going to show you,eta Bellows in a minute. And you tell me if you think she has been made this decision lightly or through a position of bias. Sheta Bellows is a very heartwarming story. She grew up poor, didn't have running water or electricity until the fifth grade.

Fathers a janitor, mother a nurse, sought to the earth people, and she's devoted her entire career not to making money. But to public interest and public service, she's been in the Peace Corps, America, ACLU director in Maine, Holocaust Museum director in Maine, Secretary of State of Maine

and an elected official in Maine. I doubt she's made much money during that process, but the value of her contributions are immeasurable. That she's also a Democrat. She comes as no surprise, especially since she's in Maine. I am not familiar to be frank with any demonstrated documented history of prior statements by Shena Bellows pre-judging the issue presented. In fact, quite the opposite. Let's roll the tape first of Shena Bellows announcing why she made this particular decision quite the opposite. Let's roll the tape first of Shana Bellos announcing why she made this particular decision in an interview. Let's roll the video.

Tell us, do you think that your decision will survive this appeal by Trump and possibly survive the Supreme Court? Thank you for having me. What I think is important to recognize is this is the process in Maine. Maine is unlike other states whereby anyone a registered voter who challenges a candidates qualifications must appeal to the Secretary of State. I did my job that I was required to do under main law and the Constitution in holding a hearing and issuing a decision. The next step under the law is this appeal to main superior court and then the main supreme judicial court and then the U.S. Supreme Court.

And I, on the last page of my decision, suspended the effect of my decision pending the court process because that is what's important through the law and the Constitution. Do you think it will survive the Supreme Court? I'm not going to, I'm going to follow the will of the courts. I don't know what the courts will do, whatever the courts will do. I'm going to follow the law and follow the court's direction. Certainly welcome the United States Supreme Court to weigh in. If they disagree with you, what will that mean?

If they disagree with me, Trump will be on the ballot. And like I said, I stayed my decision pending the appeal because it's important that the process play out. That's what our laws require. Being on top of your mental health game is so important. As you know, I'm a practicing trial attorney in addition to my hot takes and co-hosting duties. And so it's easy to fall into bad habits or routines because life gets in the way, especially with your diet. Frankly, I think most people can relate that every day life gets in the way, making a challenging to find a healthy snack without all the sugar and junk. If you're busy and constantly on the go like me, you need to try Mosh.

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Mosh protein bars will keep your brain and body fit, fueled and feeling good. Head to moshlife.com slash legal AF to save 20% off plus free shipping on your first six count trial pack. That's 20% off plus free shipping on your first six count trial pack, which includes all six mouth watering flavors, M-O-S-H-L-I-F-E dot com slash legal AF. Now back to the grounds, there's only four or five more. The second grounds, as I guess is the second best argument for Donald Trump, is that the secretary shed a bellows there, denied President Trump due process by failing to give him adequate time and opportunity to present the defense. Stop right there.

The other side had just as much opportunity to present it to their case as he did. They put on witnesses, they put on expert testimony, they relied on the Jan 6th report for a lot of their evidence and the like and filed briefs. Donald Trump elected to mail it in. Maybe even phoned it in. He filed two briefs, one about Colorado, whether the Colorado ruling against him had any impact on Maine's unique state statute system. And a main brief, that's it.

He didn't put on what witness. He didn't testify. He didn't bring in experts. He had plenty of time to do that. They just got done with the Colorado proceedings two weeks earlier. Many of the same witnesses in Colorado, especially the expert ones on the 14th Amendment and on insurrection and rebellion were used again in Maine. That'll trump out the ability at plenty of time.

Yes, within a short, one or two week window, but he had plenty of time to present his defense. He just chose not to. As I said in a prior hot take, he just phoned it in. They then claim as their third best argument that the secretary lacked statutory authority to hear the challenges directed to President Trump's supposed to squalification under section three of the 14th amendment. What they're arguing there is that his declaration that he was qualified that he wrote under penalty of burgery was not false

because that particular disqualification clause doesn't mean he can't be on the ballot. It just means that the appropriate time he can't take office. So in Trump's mind, this is back to the world of Trump's followers where they think he can be elected office. So in Trump's mind, this is back to the world of Trump's followers, where they think he can be elected president of the United States, and he can serve his term while in prison. So to Donald Trump, the 14th amendment, which he also argues does not apply to him or to the presidency, is also irrelevant because that has to do with whether he can take his office, not whether he can be elected or not. In other words, people of Maine will elect him, even though he can't take office and he's disqualified.

They also argue that the entire decision about the propriety of somebody being on the ballot in Maine is a political question that can only be decided by Congress, the federal Congress, or by the electoral college, but not by a state. That just flies in the face of an entire body of law about the role of each state to determine for itself qualifications for the ballot, even for presidential election. Then they end with the argument that we've heard time and time again. Section three of the 14th Amendment is not self executing and requires some, something to happen in

Congress to give it effect or it can't be enforced. That's nowhere in the 14th Amendment, section three. That's nowhere in the legislative history. It's nowhere in the literal text. It's again, it's just out of the imagination, the imaginary friend of Donald Trump. And so he also then ends with the, the oft recited incantation of Donald Trump that the 14th Amendment does not apply to the president because he's not an officer of the United States. And he's never taken an oath to support the Constitution. Their argument there is I took an oath to defend, preserve and protect the Constitution,

not to support it. So his argument is he's outside the loop of what the 14th Amendment applies to because he's not an officer under the law. He's an officer of the government above the law. I guess that's his argument. That he's not a civil servant that works for the government. He is the government, right? There's only one branch of government that's occupied primarily by one person.

That's executive branch. You know, legislative branch, you know, at the top nine members of the Supreme Court, we've got all the hundreds of people that are in the house of the Senate and one person in the presidency. And then finally, they argue that he did not engage an insurrection or rebellion in any event because his conduct is just public speeches, which is this first amendment. And he did it in sight, anybody to do anything and goodnight, everybody. That's his argument.

That's his entire petition. It's nine pages long. We'll put it up on the screen. And he wants that decision vacated and he wants the himself reinstated on the ballot. Now, Shana Bellos had state or order until the superior court rules. Let's assume the superior court rules by January off of the oral argument on the 16th of January, but let's say within five days of that, somewhere around the 21st of January,

whoever loses that would have to take an appeal to the main Supreme Court. And then they could take the rest of the month of January into early February to make an ultimate ruling there. All of that's going on. Let's talk about the split screen moment here. The US Supreme Court is deciding how the 14th Amendment Section 3 is actually implemented. Who implements it? Is it the states under their statutory provisions about who's qualified to be on the ballot?

Is it only Congress because it's a political question? Is it the Electoral College? Is it the federal courts who is supposed to be making the decision? In other words, it's not surplusage. The framers and the founding fathers wrote something in the Constitution. What does it mean and how do you apply it? That's the question, right? Like I said at the top of the hot take, it doesn't come with an owner's manual.

It doesn't come with a schematic of how to implement and execute aspects of the Constitution. The framers and the founding fathers thought that future generations of Americans would be smart enough to be able to understand the things they wrote with a quill pen on this piece of parchment. And it is. Unless you're from some other strange world where English is turned upside down. Grammar is turned upside down. Provisions and language are ignored or read out of the Constitution.

And you and then you just can't make hedge or tails of it. That's what that's what Donald Trump wants. He wants us to make to make it so confusing. So wrapped around the axle in trying to interpret and construe the Constitution that we just give up and go, well, I don't know what they meant by the 14th amendment, the third article. Can't figure it out Let's move on. It's like a it's like a child buildings building a model a model airplane or model train

And they have all these parts left over on the side that they just can't figure out where they go Well, the train looks like a little run. I don't know about this little pile over here I know this I used to build models when I was a child. And so what happens next? We got the briefing schedule already agreed to. We've got the Kenne Beck Main Superior Court making a ultimate decision on this, on oral argument.

I think it's a three-judge panel there for this particular thing, not one judge, but I will double-check that for another hot tick. And for legal AF, which we're gonna follow the developments in Maine. Now, back, let me just make this one final point about Colorado. The US Supreme Court is going to make a ruling about likely, likely at or around the time the Kennebec is trying to make their decision in Maine.

And they're going to have to decide what to do about the 14th amendment, section three. Is Donald Trump right? That it's a political question? Congress has to act that, you know, once he was impeached and not convicted, he can't be banned from ballots or whatever his crazy crackpot theories are. Or does the language of the Constitution say what it says? And that if you violate article, you know, you engage in insurrection or rebellion, you are barred from federal office and that the presidency is included in that.

And that Donald Trump's oath was good enough to trigger the application of that provision. While that's going on, that will likely overcome any ruling to the contrary by the main courts, even up to the main highest court, the Supreme Court of Maine. So these are going to be running sort of parallel and they may intersect at a certain moment because the Supreme Court ruling will likely imprint on what Maine is trying to do, but they need to progress their own interpretation of their own laws and the powers of their own secretary of state independent from what the Supreme Court says. Because the Supreme Court could say, yes, it is applicable to a president of the United

States, like Donald Trump. Yes, he's a proper federal office holder. He's an officer under the United States. He's also an officer who sworn oath to the Constitution. It applies. And then it's up to each state to determine what the impact of that is state by state under their process. And that's why May needs to progress their own state process and not wait around a go, huh, let's put a pin in this and see what the Supreme Court does. No, you need to progress your case and then catch up with the jurors prudence as it's being made new precedent, maybe towards the end of your

briefing schedule. So I think by Feb. One, the landscape is going to be clear, right? The dust is going to settle on this. We will have fully briefed an issue with the US Supreme Court. They will have likely ruled on the issue, giving guidance state by state to the state court challenges. If they say thumbs ruled on the issue, giving guidance state by state to the state court challenges.

If they say thumbs up, states go right ahead. Maine will be almost done or done by that point. It's fact finding and it may be up to the Maine Supreme Court. If they kill it and they say, well, for all 14th Amendment Section 3, qualification issues go back to Congress and that states have no role in making that decision, that will kill the main case. The main case will be put out of its misery and put out of business by that ruling. So that's the interplay between the US Supreme Court federal decision making and what's going

on state by state to exhaust their administrative and appeal processes that have to go on simultaneously. We'll continue to follow all of this, try to make it less complex, more interesting, more entertaining, but accurate. We don't blow smoke or sunshine on the Midas Touch Network, nor on legal AF join us every Wednesday or Saturday, or both at 8 p.m. Eastern time, where we put together the podcast we curate,

and we call the legal AF pod. It's exactly what you think. Karen Friedman, Ignitfalo, is with me. Ben, my celluses with me, podcast we curate and we call the legal AF pod. It's exactly what you think. Karen Freeman, Nick Nifolo is with me. Ben Myceles is with me. We joined together for the top rated show at the intersection of law politics and justice. So until my next hot take, if you give me a thumbs up

and a comment, it helps with the ratings. Until my next hot take Wednesdays and Saturdays, this is Michael Popak reporting. Hey, mydice mighty. Love this report. Continue the conversation by following us on Instagram. days and Saturdays, this is Michael Popok reporting.