Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Wow! Trump Bribing Fox Reporters in the Open?!

Episode Date: March 15, 2025

Fresh off her interview of Trump on the recession for Fox News, “journalist” Maria Bartiromo accepted the grift of being named by Trump to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Board, continu...ing an unbroken string of more than a dozen Fox “independent journalists” who have been rewarded with key positions in the Trump Administration. Michael Popok breaks it all down. Graza: Take your food to the next level with Graza Olive Oil. Visit https://graza.co/LEGALAF or scan the QR code on screen and use promo code: LEGALAF today for 10% off of TRIO! 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

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 I thought you'd be dead by now. Get to the theater and experience the movie audiences are calling. An adrenaline rush of a good time. It's a big screen blast. Find a badass. I know, all right. Nova Kane, now playing. That's the sound of bills being paid on time. But with the BMO Eclipse Rise Visa Card, paying your bills could sound like this.
Starting point is 00:00:28 Yes! Earn rewards for paying your bill in full and on time each month. Rise to rewards with the BMO Eclipse Rise Visa Card. Terms and conditions apply. The truth is, no one does it alone. And why would you want to? We all need someone to make us believe. Hashtag, you got this. It's never ordinary. All you have to do is match as many tiles as you can. And the more you match, the better.
Starting point is 00:01:05 We also have top table games like our incredible Super Spin Roulette, Blackjack, and a huge selection of slots. So there you have it. How can you match that? Check out Prize Matcher and see why it's never ordinary at Bet 365. Must be 19 or older, Ontario only. Please play responsibly.
Starting point is 00:01:19 If you or someone you know has concerns about gambling, visit connexontario.ca, T's and Z's apply. Hey, are you in the mood for something new? Why not fly with Air Transat to an eclectic music scene? A vibrant nightlife and your next big discovery. Starting this summer, you can fly direct from Toronto to Berlin, exclusively with Air Transat. Now all things Berlin feel closer than ever.
Starting point is 00:01:50 Air Transat. Travel moves us. Donald Trump keeps recruiting from Fox and Fox News for cabinet positions and other plum positions in his administration, now adding Maria Bartiromo and Laura Ingraham who covered Donald Trump, who interviewed Donald Trump, who can no longer ever be claimed to be independent. He's named the two of them to the Kennedy Center board. Used to be a bipartisan board and now all 14 members are right, right, MAGA. Trumpers, I'll give you the list in a minute, continuing the march of Fox News
Starting point is 00:02:27 as a stepping stone and a feeding program right into the Trump administration. How they can continue to have their FCC license and act like they're some sort of independent news agency with so much revolving door or even not even revolving door. How is Maria Bartiromo going gonna look the American people in the eye and say she's doing a legitimate business news program when she just took a board seat and how does Fox and its ethics department, attention Fox, you need an ethicist,
Starting point is 00:02:57 how is it allowing it? I'm Michael Popak, you're here on the Midas Touch Network and Unlegal AF. Kennedy Center used to be 10 to 14 people, bipartisan Republican and Democrat. They run the Kennedy Center and its programming in Washington. It's an honor to be on the Kennedy Center board. Donald Trump completely took over the board, trashed everybody that was on there, fired everybody bipartisan or otherwise, and then installed all of his stooges and lackeys, mega donors and their spouses and the like.
Starting point is 00:03:30 Let me tell you who's now on the board, now that he trashed it, and then we'll get a Bartiromo and Ingraham at Fox and how could they could possibly continue to follow Donald Trump and report on him to the American people when they've taken this cushy, cushy plum assignment while they're still reporters or whatever they're supposed to be, TV personalities. Usha Vance, the vice president's wife is on the board. Suzy Wiles, the chief of staff, her mother, who was married to Pat Summerall, the late NFL host, anchor. So Susie Wild's got her mother on there. We have Dan Scavino, who's the deputy chief of staff.
Starting point is 00:04:11 We have Lee Greenwood, the country singer who Donald Trump likes. We've got Pam Gross, who is the wife of a mega donor. We've got Alison Lutnick, who is the wife of the commerce secretary. We've got Alison Lutnick who is the wife of the Commerce Secretary. Adding to all of these people are Bartiromo and Laura Ingraham because Donald Trump quote wants to return the Kennedy Center to greatness. Now artists understandably are abandoning the Kennedy Center in droves. Hamilton and Lin-Manuel just canceled their entire run at the Kennedy Center because they're
Starting point is 00:04:48 not going to do it under this type of totalitarian approach to the arts. I really do feel like I'm in Nazi Germany when I hear about the complete takeover by the government of an arts division or arm. Now it shouldn't come as any surprise there's more than a dozen people from Fox and Fox and Friends and Fox and Weekend and Fox contributors all in serving in some capacity in the Trump administration. From the highest the highest levels Pete Hegseth, he wasn't even qualified to be on the starting lineup of Fox and Friends, he was Fox and Friends Weekend and he's now the head of
Starting point is 00:05:25 our Defense Department. He's the head of the Pentagon. Pete Hegseth, Kimberly Guilfoyle, formerly a wife or girlfriend of one of the Trump kids, now the US Ambassador to Greece. She was a contributor. Monica Crowley from Fox, now the Chief of Protocol at State. Dan Bongino, Dan Bongino, biggest claim to fame is he was in the secret service and then he was a podcaster. And now he's the deputy director of the FBI and a former contributor to Fox. Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas,
Starting point is 00:05:55 now our ambassador to Israel, a Fox contributor. Sean Duffy, very interesting. Sean Duffy, secretary of transportation. He was a Fox contributor where he met his wife, Rachel Campos Duffy, when they were on real world meets whatever on MTV, and she was a real world person, Rachel Campos Duffy, and she's still on Fox, and he was on Fox and is now our Secretary of Transportation during one of the most critical and tumultuous periods in air travel, for instance, we've ever had
Starting point is 00:06:28 with at least five major plane accidents and deaths, including the most fatalities in the last 25 years, about nine days after the Trump administration started. Maybe they should focus more on being real civil servants and politicians instead of playing one on television. This episode of Legal AF is brought to you by Graza. It's my new favorite olive oil. It's fresh, it's never blended,
Starting point is 00:06:53 and it comes from a single type of olive, the picciole, straight out of high-end Spain, where over half the world's olive oil is produced. Why Graza? It uses only one olive from one region. No mysterious blends. That means a traceable fresher product without mixing in any lower grade or unknown oils. No more messy tins or drippy spouts. Just aim, squeeze, and go. They have Frizzle, the newest, with a higher 490 degree Fahrenheit smoke point perfect for frying, crisping, or grilling.
Starting point is 00:07:25 Sizzle at 410 degrees Fahrenheit and everyday cooking oil for roasting, marinating, and sauteing. And drizzle a bold, punchy finishing oil you can sprinkle on salads, dip bread in, or even top off ice cream. Now my wife, who lived and studied in Italy for a number of years, makes me want to cook more Italian.
Starting point is 00:07:42 But I know my margin of error is small, so I love using Grazza to make her favorite rigatoni amritriciana and ever look at me like I just ordered in from her favorite Roman trattoria. For a limited time, you get 10% off your first order on Grazza's site, but I personally suggest grabbing the trio. That's all three squeezy bottles,
Starting point is 00:08:02 sizzle, frizzle, and drizzle. So you're set for every style of cooking. So head to graza.co, C-O, and use Legal AF to get 10% off of the trio, which includes sizzle, frizzle and drizzle. And get to cooking your next chef quality meal. And then I could go on, Tulsi Gabbard, the head of our national intelligence,
Starting point is 00:08:22 was a contributor. Tom Holman, who's the head of our border czar issues, he was a contributor. General Kellogg, he was a Fox contributor. So my big beef, if you can tell, is not so much that Donald Trump is picking people out of central casting on Fox and Friends and Fox and News and whatever and putting them in his administration, which is an obvious indicator that that channel was never independent, was never fair and balanced. It was so unfair and unbalanced.
Starting point is 00:08:56 It was a stepping stone in apparently auditions and tryouts for Donald Trump, you know, the ultimate reality TV star and producer. My biggest problem is what is Bartiromo and Ingraham going to do now? I know what they're going to do. They're going to continue to report on the Trump administration. They're going to continue to interview him and they're not going to reveal anywhere except we'll do it here.
Starting point is 00:09:19 They're not going to reveal anywhere that they are on his board, that they took a, are they not going to take the money that goes along with it? I believe there's a stipend that goes along with it. They're going to turn that down as well. Maria Bartiroma just interviewed Donald Trump off the weekend about the recession. Here's a clip. Let me stay on the economy for a moment because there are rising worries about a slowdown. You've got the Atlanta Federal Reserve saying we're gonna have a contraction in the first quarter. Look, I know that you inherited a mess, and you said that the other night.
Starting point is 00:09:49 I've only been here, so you don't have to worry about it. But are you expecting a recession this year? I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition, because what we're doing is very big. We're bringing wealth back to America. That's a big thing. And there are always periods of,
Starting point is 00:10:08 it takes a little time. It takes a little time. But I think it should be great for us. I mean, I think it should be great. It's gonna be great ultimately for the farmer. You know, don't forget, I mean. So is she gonna look and level with her viewers and say say I am
Starting point is 00:10:25 effectively a mouthpiece for I was at the North Koreans for Donald Trump and I took the board seat because nobody told me I couldn't do it at Fox and I think I can still be independent in my in my interviews or I'm not a reporter how about that I'm not a journalist I'm just an on-air personality. Yet you break news and make news when you ask dumb questions that get amazing, eye-popping answers like, well, I can't predict if there's going to be a recession. There's a period of transition. You're making news there, Maria, whether you like it or not. You're getting paid several million dollars a year, I presume, in order to do it. I don't see anybody attacking Fox for DEI at the Trump administration.
Starting point is 00:11:16 Is that how Maria got her job? Because diversity, equity, and inclusion, they needed more women on the air? I don't know. I mean, let's get to the bottom of it. It seems to be a fair number of women on the air? I don't know. I mean, let's get to the bottom of it. Seems to be a fair number of women on Fox. You know, I don't suggest that they didn't earn their way into those positions, but if it was a Democratic channel, I'm sure Donald Trump would have already. So I'm going to continue to follow it all right here, this conduit, this theater
Starting point is 00:11:41 program and this unholy alliance between Donald Trump and Fox as he rewards those that helped get him elected. And they don't think there's any, that's the problem, it's the character thing. They don't think there's anything wrong, no judgment thing, with continuing to be some sort of news organization at the same time that they, CNBC, I mean, you know, it's like supposed to be a credible news organization at the same time that they are CNBC. I mean, it's supposed to be a credible news organization while they continue to take handouts and effectively bribes from Donald Trump. I'll continue to follow it right here on the Midas Touch Network and on Legal AF. Follow everything we do at the intersection of law and politics right here and also on the Legal AF
Starting point is 00:12:21 YouTube channel Legal AF MTN. Wednesdays and Saturdays the OG podcast top 10 in the world Legal AF on the number one Midas Touch network by the way and then on audio podcast platforms of your choice. I got a new show Popak Live Tuesday nights 8 p.m. Eastern time on this YouTube channel a new podcast we were about I don't know 12 episodes old, averaging about a half a million every time we go out there. That's all because of you. I do my part as best I can. I take questions. I give answers. I don't pull punches. Popak Live, Tuesday nights, 8 p.m. Eastern time. So until my next reporting, I'm Michael Popak.
Starting point is 00:13:00 In collaboration with the Midas Touch Network, we just launched the Legal AF YouTube channel. Help us build this pro-democracy channel where I'll be curating the top stories, the intersection of law and politics. Go to YouTube now and free subscribe at Legal AF MTN. That's at Legal AF MTN.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.