Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump’s Spin on Federal Judge’s Ruling Falls Apart

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Starting point is 00:02:36 and fraud on the court in the creation of the anti-weaponization fund and in Todd Blanche's actions, for which she has referred him to bar disciplinary proceedings to determine whether he violated his oath of office as an attorney. But focus on footnote 63. Because in footnote 6, the judge says, while you cannot call that thing that was created by a phony lawsuit between Donald Trump and those parties he controlled the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department, you cannot call that thing. The Jan 6 anti-weaponization fund, a settlement pursuant to the Judgment Act and pursuant to this lawsuit, which is invalid, right?

Starting point is 00:03:25 she said in footnote 63, if there is a private agreement, such as the one that Todd Blanche used the day after creating the anti-weaponization fund, in which he released Donald Trump, Donald Trump's family, his affiliates from all tax and audit liability and criminal liability, past and future, whether he knew it or not, he signed that document, one paragraph document himself. The judge says that is not before the court. Now the Department of Justice has come out and said that they are validating the release, that the release is still valid. This entire lawsuit and its purported phony bad faith settlement that was caught by Judge Williams was all a ruse, a smokescreen. They did not care. Donald Trump did not care about the $1,776 million fund. He cared about what Todd Blanche did the very next day, in which he signed a one-paragraph document,

Starting point is 00:04:31 which Judge Williams calls a release in Jamie Raskin. The House Judiciary Committee calls a super pardon. That's what Donald Trump has always wanted. This has been a giant shell game, and we're catching it and pointing it out right now, this three-card Monty. And this footnote 63, which I'm going to read to you, is going to trip up. Todd Blanche today, I'll be reporting throughout the day about the cross-examination because Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee from Illinois, he said he met with Todd Blanche and Todd Blanche said, I was set up. It was a hatchet job by Judge Williams. I didn't give that type of release. Yes, you did. You probably don't know how to read a release since you were a criminal lawyer and not a civil lawyer like me, but let me tell you you knew or should have know what you were doing. So let me focus on not only paragraph or footnote 63, but I want to go through the seven or eight places in Judge Williams' order that are going to be or have been already fodder for cross-examination

Starting point is 00:05:38 for Todd Blanche. Epstein files and his role in the cover up and the cover up and the cover up, yes. All of the prosecutorial misconduct and grand jury abuse and going after Donald Trump's political enemies and bad faith indictments. Yes, the number one thing that Todd Blanche may get tripped up on and one vote may peel away from the Republicans on that committee when they finally vote and only one vote needs to depart in order to kill and have him die in committee is his handling of the Jan 6th Anti-Weaponization Fund and the release and super pardon to Trump, Trump family and his affiliates. I'm Michael Popak. You're here. We have our hands on the controls.

Starting point is 00:06:22 We've got fighter pilot awareness, 270 degrees around about Todd Blanche. We're on to you and we're going to report diligently all throughout the day. Let's get to the footnote after the judge declared that she had been had. There was a fraud on the court. There was the seat on the court. There was a collusive lawsuit and settlement. And therefore, the parties are barred and banned from ever referring to whatever happened after as a settlement of her lawsuit, they're not allowed to refer to it that way and referred

Starting point is 00:06:57 lawyers like Todd Blanche to their bar regulators for potential discipline. She said this in footnote 63. This is the dumb and dumber moment for the Department of Justice in Todd Blanche and Donald Trump. So you're saying there is a chance in paragraph 63. Here's what she wrote. Again, as noted by plaintiffs, that's the Trump side in their brief. whether a private agreement between the parties as if there was no judge is valid and enforceable or is a depredation of the judgment fund, which is a statute I'll talk about in a minute, and an illegal conferral of immunity is not before this court. Now, what is she talking about?

Starting point is 00:07:41 The Department of Justice came up with the argument that they didn't need her lawsuit, they didn't need her approval. They didn't need a settlement under her lawsuit to accomplish the exact same thing. They could have settled with the Jan Sixers, and they're going to, by the way. There's more than 700 federal tort claims acts submitted by Jan Sixers to get money from you and me for them having tried to burn down our democracy and to beat up law enforcement. They could have done that privately out the back door, right? and the question of whether in addition,

Starting point is 00:08:18 Todd Blanche as part of some sort of settlement of no lawsuit could have entered into an agreement to give carte blanche superimmunity for civil and criminal indictments in the future or tax and audit liability in the future. She said, that's not before me. What's before me is you used this court, the legitimacy in the imprimatur of this court to do something you are not allowed to do.

Starting point is 00:08:44 whether you can do it behind my back and without the court involvement, that is for another lawsuit. The Department of Justice, according to new reporting, jumped up with, aha. Thus, the release, the super pardon for the Trump family is viable. That's not what she's saying. She's saying it just wasn't part of the subject matter of the case that's in front of her. It means we need another case. We need another case. Or this will now flip over to Judge Brinkema,

Starting point is 00:09:14 an Eastern District of Virginia judge and have that particular issue about whether under any circumstances a court, a Department of Justice can enter into an agreement on the super pardon, you know, give a super pardon, that may be for her or a future lawsuit. Now, Todd Blanche has said to Dick Durbin 24 hours ago, I made a mistake on the Jan 6th. anti-weaponization fund. I made a mistake on the release and I'm being pilloried as a result. Let's see what he does throughout the day today when he's questioned, including by Dick Durbin or by Cory Booker or by Senator Blumenthal or by Senator White House. You know he's going to get softball questions from the Republicans except for Tom Tillis of North Carolina and of the

Starting point is 00:10:06 senator from Texas Cornyn who Donald Trump defeated in a primary with Ken Baxter. Let me read to you from other parts, which I thought were fascinating and haven't gotten enough coverage here in Judge Williams' decision. It says that on the same day, acting attorney General Blanche issued in order, this is the release that is referred to in paragraph 63, which referenced the settlement agreement and released the president, his relatives, companies, and affiliates from any and all claims, counterclaims, and causes of action that have been or could have been asserted against plaintiffs that arise out of any matters that were raised or could have been raised in this case about lawfare or weaponization undefined, any matters currently pending or that could be pending,

Starting point is 00:10:53 including tax returns filed before the effective date, before defendants or other agencies. Unlike the settlement agreement, which was signed by purported representatives of both plaintiffs and defendants only, acting attorney general Blanche's signature was on the release order. She says on 25 over to 26, Judge Williams, considering the brief chronology, the silent docket and defendant's deviation from basic litigation strategies pursued in similar cases, the court must conclude that defendants chose not to advance an interpretation of the law as the position of the United States that contravenes President Trump's opinion. It is clear that obeisance to the mandate of his executive order has been fulfilled by defendant's actions. Therefore, not only does the executive order demonstrate Trump's espouse control over defendant's conduct in this litigation, it demonstrates President Trump's actual control in this litigation, and that he completely controls it all. Let me go to page 29 in which she's extremely troubled by Todd Blanche's prior testimony on May 19th.

Starting point is 00:12:04 She says footnote 38, the court is extremely troubled by the testimony given, by Acting Attorney General Blanche on May 19, 26. In response to why the settlement agreement had not been submitted to the court for review, he stated that there is no judge because the case had been dismissed, and therefore there was no mechanism for reviewing the agreement. While temporarily accurate, the judge says, this answer is at best misleading and at worst, disingenuous. The court was available to review any pleading by any party at any time during the lawsuit.

Starting point is 00:12:38 and if acting attorney general Blanche had thought the dismissal was improvidently granted or thought plaintiffs misspoke when they said no judicial analysis is appropriate, he only had to file an appearance and ask for relief. Let me move on. She says on paragraphs 37 and 38, in dismissing the parties, the non-parties claims of collusion, plaintiffs reveal the true position of the parties. That's Trump's side. And say the quiet part, last. regardless of whether plaintiffs had ever filed this action, the government and plaintiffs still have the power to resolve all disputes between the parties. This is the key to the Department of Justice saying, we still have a release for our boss. He still gets the super pardon. The power to resolve

Starting point is 00:13:24 was never a question before this court. Whether executive branch actors can privately agree to give themselves and their former clients blanket immunities and billions of dollars in tax monies for legally undefined grievances was never an issue advanced to this court. The question is whether the parties could do so by claiming to be adverse and engaging the legitimacy of a court proceeding. The answer is a resounding no. The lead plaintiff and the government are one, a fully realized unitary interest. Because plaintiffs have no answer for the fact that the lead plaintiff directs and controls

Starting point is 00:14:01 the defendants, that being Trump. This renders the lawsuit non-adversive. collusive and jurisdictionally improper. And because this fact was so obvious and so insurmountable, Judge Williams writes on page 38, the court finds this matter was brought for an improper purpose to gain the imprimatur of judicial legitimacy for a settlement that had no viable basis in law or fact

Starting point is 00:14:24 and was observed in another matter brought in this district, this case is, as was observed in another matter brought in this district, this case is part of Mr. Trump's pattern of using the court to serve political purpose. She's referring to Judge Middlebrooks in a case brought by Alina Haba against Hillary Clinton and the Democrats and a fine of over a million dollars. And yet to this moment, the Department of Justice still believes that there is a viable super pardon in favor of Donald Trump.

Starting point is 00:14:57 And Todd Blanche is answering for that today as a result. As I've said at the top of this hot take, don't be distracted. by the fund. The Department of Justice will find ways for Donald Trump to pay off the people who were insurrectionists who attacked our democracy through the back door of the Federal Tort Claims Act. And private, quiet settlements you'll only know about after they announced them without having a fund. Forget the fun that was always a smokescreen to cover up for Donald Trump and his family, getting what he couldn't get from the United States Supreme Court and John Roberts. He got from his attorney general nominee, the pardons that he always wanted and to be released of hundreds of

Starting point is 00:15:41 millions of dollars, if not more, of tax liability and exposure. That's it, folks. That was the magic trick. I just described it to you. We'll continue to follow throughout the day what happens with Todd Blanche and whether he's ultimately going to be confirmed and whether one day is going to be enough. I doubt it with all of the scandal millstones hanging around Todd Blanche's neck, I doubt one day is going to be enough. Until my next report later today, I'm Michael Popock. Can't get your fill of legal A.F. Me neither. That's why we formed the legal A.F. Substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the substack.

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Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump’s Spin on Federal Judge’s Ruling Falls Apart

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