Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump’s Fake Prosecutor Gets Nightmare News as Fight Erupts in Court

Episode Date: December 11, 2025

A fight has broken out between Trump’s DOJ and the Judges of the Eastern District of Virginia, who are refusing to accept any new court filing with fired US Attorney Lindsey Halligan’s name on it. Meanwhile, Trump and his Attorney General are trying to exploit a loophole in the court order disqualifying Halligan to argue that she gets to stay in her job, although she was canned by Judge Currie. Popok explains the current hand to hand combat which Trump is sure to lose, and how the recent resignation of Alina Habba plays into it. Armra: Head to https://tryarmra.com/legalaf or enter promo code: LEGALAF to receive 15% off your first order! Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: ⁠https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast⁠ Legal AF: ⁠https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af⁠ MissTrial: ⁠https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial⁠ The PoliticsGirl Podcast: ⁠https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast⁠ Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum with Dr. Steve Hassan: ⁠https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan⁠ 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We've got a new fight that's broken out between the Department of Justice, Pam Bondi, Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and the judges of the Eastern District of Virginia over an interpretation of Judge Curry's order, which fired Lindsay Halligan as the U.S. attorney, prosecutor, for the Eastern District of Virginia. There's no other way to interpret the order that was rendered two weeks ago on the 24th of November by Judge Curry.

I have a copy of it right here. but that Lindsay Halligan is out of a job and the vacancy needs to be filled by the judges of the Eastern District of Virginia. But we're here two weeks later, and the Eastern District judges haven't gotten together to appoint a new prosecutor, and that left a gaping hole, a gaping loophole that the Department of Justice is trying to drive a tractor-trailer through and argue that Lindsay Halligan still has her job. But federal judges look at filings with her name on it and scratch their head and said, she was fired in an order. How can she possibly still be participating in decision-making and filing in court coming out of that office?

And this, against the backdrop of Alina Haba, finally taking yes for an answer and resigning from her position as the District of New Jersey, the chief prosecutor for the state of New Jersey federally. I'm Michael Popak. You're on the Midas Touch Network and on Legal A.F. Let's get down to what's going on. A couple of back-to-back decisions about a week apart. Lindsay Halligan fired by Judge Curry, who was presiding in there by designation, having been found in particular, she having found in particular that Lindsay Halligan was illegally appointed by Donald Trump under a vacancy reform act and under any interpretation of constitutional law

to the position as U.S. attorney, which must have come as some slight relief for Lindsay Halligan, considering she's eight years out of law school with no federal court experience, let alone ever being a prosecutor. Okay, and off went the James Comey and the Letitia James indictment with it. A week later, Alina Haba gets fired by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals for similar but not exactly identical reasons. Now, it looks like the Department of Justice, particularly Donald Trump, Pam Bondi, and Todd Blanche, are still fighting to keep Lindsay Halligan in her spot while they're going

around her to re-indate Letitia James for mortgage fraud and baby James Comey for perjury or something else using other people in the office, people that they're already using, including, for instance, her deputy, her first assistant who's now joined that office. And so there's a battle between the federal judges who say, Judge Curry ruled, you're out of a job. And why is your name still on pleadings and court filings as being the U.S. attorney when you're not, the judges are challenging U.S. attorneys in their courtroom on unrelated cases saying, why is Lindsay Halligan's name here, including Judge Nakmanoff, who's the judge presiding over the Comey indictment? I'll go over that with you. And then you've got Bondi and Blanche running interference attacking the Eastern District

of Virginia judges who are ultimately going to pick her replacement, claiming that they're being biased and unfair against Lindsay Halligan, while Alina Abba got kicked upstairs to take a job to be the special advisor to Pam Bondi, talk about blind leading the blind, and I apologies to the blind, to be a special advisor about you as attorneys. What is going on? The problem is it is a slight problem. It has to do with Judge Curry's order. Her order is a little bit slightly vague at the moment when it needed to be precise. Let me explain it to you. When she concluded in her order, ordered and adjudged, number one, the appointment of Ms. Halligan as interim U.S. attorney violated Section 546 and the appointment clause of the U.S. Constitution. Okay, that's a finding

of fact. That's a conclusion of law. She then says all actions flowing from the defective appointment, including the indictment, or an unlawful exercise of executive power, and are set aside. Okay, conclusion of law and remedy. The Attorney General's attempts to ratify her actions were unaffective and set aside. Conclusions of law and a remedy. I understand that. Then she says in paragraph 7, the power to appoint an interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia during the current vacancy, pretty clear, lies with the district. court until a U.S. attorney is nominated by the president, confirmed by the Senate. Not much of a loophole. Seven could have been a little bit more precise. She could have said,

there is now officially a vacancy. Ms. Halligan, you're out of a job. I don't think there's any other way to read the preceding six paragraphs than exactly what I just said. But what the Department of Justice is arguing and the Office of Legal Counsel for Donald Trump is that what's a little bit unclear, a little bit ambiguous. She says there's a vacancy. She says Halligan was, illegally appointed and her appointment violated the statute and the Constitution and says the vacancy needs to be filled by the judges. But even the judges didn't move forward to fill the vacancy. See, what if I had written it, or I would move for clarification if I were comies, lawyers if I cared, and Letitia James's lawyers, and I would say, here's a proposed amended order,

which says there's now a vacancy created because of the unconstitutional appointment and illegal appointment of Lindsay Halligan. She shall not. She is barred. She is barred. from continuing to operate as the U.S. attorney. I preclude her. I block her. I enjoin her. There is now a vacancy. That vacancy can only be filled by the judges. Because she didn't put that, get out of your chair, I'm blocking you from reporting to work part. The Trump administration is like,

she can still sign pleadings, which is it pissing off the judges. For instance, there's reporting the Judge Nakmanoff during a hearing about an immigration case, having nothing to do with Comey or Letitia James, James got into a back and forth with the lawyer, Nick Patterson, who was an assistant U.S. attorney, I think a legitimate one, in the Eastern District, about why is Lindsay Halligan's name still on these court filings given Judge Curry's order? Why? He says, those were the instructions we were given. We were supposed to put Robert McBride, who's the number two in

the office now. He's a semi-retired lawyer brought in from Kentucky to babysit, I guess, the office. And we're supposed to put Todd Blanche's name. Why? Why? Why? Lindsay Halligan's name there as interim U.S. attorney. I don't really have any explanation for that, Your Honor. So, Nakmanoff struck it from the pleading and instructed the office, don't file anything in his courtroom that still has Lindsay Halligan's name on it. Other magistrate judges are doing the same thing. And Nakmanov got into it with the lawyer.

Like, listen, this is not an order that only relates to Letitia James and Ms. James' and Mr. Comey's indictment. This has to do with the entire district. She's out of a job. Are you feeling sluggish? Bloaded. Not like yourself. Life bombards us with silent threats.

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No reasoning was provided by the Department of Justice in Washington. So now you had to have Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche leap into action. And here's what they posted on X. I guess this is supposed to be a love letter to the judges of the Eastern District. A statement from Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche. Certain district court and magistrate judges in the Eastern District of Virginia are engaging in an unconscionable campaign of Boblinch. bias and hostility against U.S. attorney Lindsay Halligan.

Stop right there. As of the date of this posting, which was like today, yesterday, Lindsay Halligan is not the U.S. attorney. That would be like me making a posting that says, from the desk of the president of the United States, Michael Popak. Just because I got some software to print the stationery doesn't mean that I am that. Just like Pete Hegseth isn't the secretary of war. Lindsay and our attorneys are simply doing their jobs. Well, she's out of a job.

There's no job for her to do. The fact that you're admitting, you're violating the order of Judge Curry. If I was Letitia James and James Comey, or if I was Judge Curry, having seen this, I would call them in for contempt. Plain and simple. And issue a slightly revised order, to be a little bit more precise at that moment of blocking Lindsay Allegan from showing up to work. They do not deserve to have their reputations questioned in court for ethically advocating on behalf of their client. It's legitimate for Judge Nakmanoff to say to the assistant U.S. attorney, what's the

guidance that you were given? No guidance was presented. Okay. We will continue fighting for public safety in courtrooms across the country. Public safety? That's what Letitia James' mortgage fraud cases about. That's what James Comey's perjury cases about, public safety. and we will not be deterred by rogue judges who, all the judges are rogue,

who fail to live up to their obligations of impartiality because of their own political views. What are you effing talking about? Most of these judges on the Eastern District of Virginia, it's split, it's bipartisan. The American people deserve nothing less, written by the most corrupt head of the Department of Justice in our history. So what's going to happen next? I think they're going to stop writing Lindsay Halligan's name on things. I don't see them appealing anytime soon to save Lindsay Halligan's job, you know? And I think one of the parties, either James Comey or Letitia James, are going to have to run to court

or Judge Curry is going to have to issue on her own, because she reads, issue on her own an amended order, barring her from the office, and also pointing, somebody should point out this particular posting that I just read out loud as grounds for contempt of court. When you don't follow orders you don't like, writing a social media post to attack the judge and call them rogue is not acceptable as an officer of the court, which both of them are. They have sworn in allegiance to be true and faithful and candid officers of the court. And just because they're doing it in social media doesn't make it okay or all right. right or not in contempt or contumacious conduct. So here's what I think will happen and should happen. There's going to be an amendment by Judge Curry on her own or on a request to add another

line or two to her order to make it clear that she blocks Lindsay Halligan. Lindsay Halligan is not to put her name on pleadings. Lindsay Halligan is precluded from serving in any capacity or impersonating, let's call it for what it is, impersonating the U.S. attorney from now until there is a reversal of her order. They want to appeal, they go appeal. The meantime, they got a federal order to abide by subject to contempt. I think that happens.

I think that the judges of the Eastern District of Virginia, one of them's got to be illegal AF or might as touch fan, hold your meeting and appoint somebody new and have them show up for the keys. That would help, that would go a long way also and have them start running that office.

I think that's got to happen. this week as well. We'll follow it right here on Midas Touch and LegalAF. Hit the subscribe button here. Hit the subscribe button over on LegalAF, YouTube. Help us get to 1 million subscribers before the next couple of weeks. We're going to do it with your help. And the bigger we are, the more we are empowered and emboldened for 2026. And I appreciate everything that you guys do for us. Until my next report, I'm Michael Popok. Can't get your fill of LegalAF. Me neither. That's why we formed the LegalAF substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take.

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