Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump’s Stunt Blows Up as DC Goes Nuclear on Him

Episode Date: August 15, 2025

In breaking news, the “other” attorney general in DC, Brian Schwalb, has just filed a new injunction lawsuit against Trump, Pam Bondi, the Department of Justice and others, seeking to stop Trump��s unconstitutional abuse of power and violation of DC’s Home Rule rights to self-governance, by taking over its police department and sidelining its mayor. Michael Popok reports on the 33 page complaint and what will happen next in short order, as DC refuses to allow its sovereignty to be violated by a rogue president. Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to https://TryMiracle.com/LEGALAF and use the code LEGALAF to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF. 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

In breaking news, we've got the battle of the Attorneys General in the District of Columbia. Yes, there are two of them, one named Bondi, but the other one that matters more now is Brian Schwallop. He's the Attorney General of the District of Columbia, and he has just filed a new lawsuit on behalf of the mayor, on behalf of the police chief against Donald J. Trump, Pam Bondi, and the rest, because Trump has tried a takeover of the District of Columbia and through orders by Pam Bondi. has tried to effectively dissolve the police department, undermine and a sideline its police chief and its mayor, assign an acting police commissioner who is the head of the DEA, all in violation, not just of the U.S. Constitution, which I'll explain, but of the Home Rule Act that was passed in 1973 by Congress

and Section 740, which says that while the president can request certain involvement, and cooperation by the mayor and the police chief, it has to go through the mayor and the police chief. You can't sideline them. You can't take it over, and there's a temporal time quality to this takeover. It's 48 hours, no longer than 30 days, and you have to get permission from a joint resolution of Congress

that's set up and is the entity that regulates the district, not the presidency. If you go to the legislation and regulation of the District of Columbia, He has a federal district is under the supervision and oversight of Article 1 Congress, not Article 2 presidency. Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17, says that Congress is in charge of the federal district. Not Donald Trump. Donald Trump has a limited, more narrow involvement as president in the operations only when there is, wait for it, an emergency.

Donald Trump's two favorite phrases, we have an emergency and two weeks. They all come together here on Midas Touch and LegalAF on Michael Popak. Let's talk about the brand new lawsuit posted now on LegalAF Substack, District of Columbia versus Donald J. Trump. They had a file this. They had no choice. Pam Bondi just issued a new executive order after allowing, I mean, that's the wrong term. It suggests that she's got the power to do this. But after allowing the police chief to do her job and the mayor to do her job, she then issued a new executive order out of the blue.

and appointed the Terence C. Cole, who is the administrator, I'm not even sure he's been confirmed of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, the DEA head, to be the acting police commissioner, requiring the police chief to get permission from Commissioner Cole. What is this like, Batman? Commissioner Cole before she can do anything. Here's what the complaint. I'll read to you from the relevant part, starting on page two.

Paragraph 1, more than 50 years ago, 1973. Congress empowered the people of the District of Columbia to govern themselves. See, D.C. wanted to be sort of its own state. And Congress threw him a bone in 1973 and said, we'll give you a home rule. There was a big movement in the 70s and 80s towards municipalities and villages and towns to get home rule. Take it away from either the state or the feds. And this was part of that movement. And the Home Rule Act, which Congress is empowered to pass because they alone under Article I have the power to legislate and give oversight and control everything that goes on in the district, not Article 2 presidency.

Congress gave the inhabitants of the District of Columbia powers of local self-government to elect a mayor and city council. This is all paragraph one to adopt local laws and reserve a Congress reserved for itself for Congress. the authority to review the district's laws and legislate on matters of federal concern. But otherwise, they left the operation of the local government in local hands. By contrast, in paragraph two of the complaint, Congress gave the president. Congress gave the president. I know that sounds odd. Donald Trump acts like he takes all power from the people and doesn't have any checks

and balance on him. But Congress gave the president an exceedingly narrow role in the governance of the district. In section 740, you're going to be hearing a lot about. 740 of the Home Rule Act. Congress provided that if, quote, the president determines that special conditions of an emergency nature exists. Here we go. Just like having drug gangs in this country for the last 20 years was suddenly an emergency

where, and he had to invoke tariffs because of a trade imbalance over the last 10 years, 20 years, that's an emergency. Now we have an emergency. What's the emergency? That Donald Trump's teacher's pet, a guy named Big Balls, I'm not making this up, who's 19 years old. jumped a couple of days before Donald Trump went crazy and started to takeover D.C. Because big balls got jumped by a bunch of 14-year-olds.

And if I had a guess, and I wasn't there, but if I had a guess, I'm sure Big Balls, his mouth was flapping. I'm not saying victims invite crime. But, all right, so a bunch of 14-year-olds jumped them. And now we've got to do a wholesale unconstitutional takeover of a district. Come up. That's the emergency. The weather, it's heating up, and your nighttime bedroom temperature has a huge impact on

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Thank you, Miracle Made, for sponsoring this episode. In paragraph four, it also reminds everybody in the court that the president's authority under Section 740 is limited in time. It must terminate within 48 hours. We're already beyond that, unless the president sends proper notice to Congress, which he has not, and in all events, must terminate by the expiration of the emergency or within 30 days, whichever comes first. Trump says, no, I'm going to go beyond 30 days, not without a joint resolution of Congress or not.

For the president to obtain, and that's just for him to use the Metropolitan Police Department for longer than 30 days, there must be a joint resolution that's passed. And then they say on page 3, paragraph 6, in violation of Section 740, the president announced on August, August 11th that he was placing the Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control and that Bondi was going to take command of the Metropolitan Police Department as of this moment. And then he appointed Terrence Cole as the interim commissioner. And also Gady Saralta, the director of the United States Marshal Service, would be supervising the entire operation of the Metropolitan Police Department. He also falsely claimed that crime, Trump

claim that crime was increasing when it's fallen by almost 30% since 2024. Bondy then on the night of the 14th, right, just yesterday. This is why the lawsuit was filed without any advance warning, issued order number 6372025, restoring safety and security to the District of Columbia. You notice there's no resolution, no request by Trump mentioned in the complaint because there hasn't been one. And she purports to put everybody under her thumb at this moment. Now, this lawsuit is against Donald Trump and the acting commissioner and Pam Bondi and a whole list of other people. It then quotes various ways that he's threatened to take control of the

District of Columbia on paragraph 60 he talks about the big balls attack on august 5th 2025 in paragraph 60 it says the president told reporters somebody from doge big balls a 19 year old was very badly hurt last night you saw that a young man that was beat up by a bunch of thugs in dc a bunch of 14 year olds and either they're going to have to straighten out their act in the terms of governance in the terms of protection or we're going to have to federalize it run it the way it's supposed to be run and he can and then trump to distract from his problems with Epstein, problems with his economy, problems with a federal takeover trial going on in San Francisco about the Possecomitatis Act and all of that. We then escalate and he tries to invoke Section 740 of the Home Rule Act, but does it in a way that according to the

complaint violates it. And what's the suit seeking? Let's go to the last page. Again, signed by the other attorney general, Brian Schwalb. They want the court to stay and vacate that Bondi order as an unlawful final action. In other words, it violates separation of powers. It violates the take care clause. It violates the district clause of the Constitution. The Administrative Procedures Act. It violates self-governance for the District of Columbia. All that. They want the court to issue an injunction implementing about the implementation of the Bondi order. stopping this guy Cole from taking over as police commissioner, a declaration that the defendants have violated

the Administrative Procedures Act, declare that Section 740 do not permit defendants to issue the Bondi order and the declaration that all of this is in violation of the Constitution and award other relief as interest of justice may require. This is a breaking news story. They're seeking a fast turnaround on this

with a temporary restraining order as well. I expect that this will be in front of the judges, some judge, by as early as Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of this coming week. And we'll follow it here. And we'll follow it on LegalAF YouTube. Come over to Legal AFMTN as well. Hit the free subscribe button as we continue to follow an erratic, out of control, rogue president

that we will overcome by linking together here on Midas Touch on LegalAF. So until my next report, this is Michael Popak. 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 you'll find the court filing and the oral argument there including a daily roundup that i do call wait for it morning a f what else all the other contributors from legal a half are there as well we got some new reporting we got interviews we got ad free versions of the podcast and hot takes where legal a f on substack come over now to free subscribe