The MeidasTouch Podcast - Yikes! Trump Destroys Lives of His Own DOJ Lawyers

Episode Date: May 1, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump blaming his own DOJ lawyers for his unlawful conduct and his violations of Supreme Court orders. Udacity: For 40% OFF your order, head to https://Udacity.com/meidas and use promo code: MEIDAS Visit https://meidasplus.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 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

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in prison for violating court orders. When Donald Trump is asked, why are you violating the Supreme Court's nine to zero order, saying, Donald, you've got to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia, who your regime disappeared to a concentration camp in El Salvador without due process. You need to facilitate his return to the United States, provide him with due process, and then you can go from there. Why aren't you following the Supreme Court's order? Donald Trump consistently says, because my own DOJ lawyers said that I won in front of the Supreme Court and that I don't need to facilitate the return of Ebrego Garcia. And most recently, in this disastrous interview that Donald Trump gave with

ABC on his 100 days in office, the most disastrous 100 days in the history of the presidency, Donald Trump said, my lawyers are telling me that I don't need to do anything. In fact, what Donald Trump said is, if I wanted to, Trump says, I could facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia. Donald Trump says, yeah, I have the ability and power to pick up the phone and give a phone call to the leader of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, and ask for the return. And yeah, he would return Abrego Garcia. I'm sure if I ask him. But Donald Trump said, my lawyers say I don't need to do that. So I'm not going to do that. We all know what the Supreme Court order says. It says you need to facilitate the return and take steps to do that. So if Donald Trump's lawyers are really saying that to Donald Trump,

then they're going to be in big trouble before the various federal courts, not just the one in Maryland involving the Abrego Garcia case, but there are federal courts throughout the country now where we're also seeing these types of orders where Donald Trump disappeared migrants to El Salvador. I want to show you what Donald Trump said. I want to go through the specific language with you, but I think it's notable that the federal judge in Maryland, Judge Zinus, in the case of Abrego Garcia, while there was a temporary pause that took place in that case on the expedited discovery that Judge Zinus had ordered regarding why Abrego Garcia was sent to El Salvador, the steps that are being taken for his return.

This pause in discovery has now ended. I think that pause was because there were representations made to the court confidentially that there were steps being taken to try to facilitate the return, which was then not carried out. And now the judge, Judge Zinnes, has ordered, let's go expedite a discovery. I want it all done by May 9th. And I think Judge Zinnes is teeing this all up to make a contempt finding, a criminal contempt finding. And this is a no-nonsense judge that I think is pissed at the violations of her court order and what the Supreme Court ruled, which is facilitate the return forthwith. So here's what Donald Trump said in

his interview with ABC this past week. Donald Trump's talking about Abrego Garcia and Terry Moran. The ABC reporter says, I'm not saying whether Abrego's a good guy or not. It's about the rule of law. The order from the Supreme Court stands, sir. Trump goes, he came into our country illegally. Terry Moran says, you could get him back. There's a phone on his desk. Donald Trump says, I could. Terry Moran says, you could pick it up and with all. And Trump says, I could. And Terry Moran says, with the power of the presidency, you could call up the president of El Salvador and say, send him back right now. Donald Trump

says, I could. But then Donald Trump blames his lawyers. And he says, well, I follow the law, Trump says. And my lawyers say, I don't need to do that. Let me play this clip for you. Let's play. We're not being treated fairly by all judges. Oh, that's a subject. So you're saying that you don't like some of the rulings, some of the court orders? Well, I think the rulings will be overturned, yeah. Let me ask you about one man and one court order. Kilmer Abrego Garcia. He's the Salvadoran man who crossed into this country illegally, but who is under a protective order that he not be sent back to El Salvador. Your government sent him back to El Salvador and acknowledged in court that was a mistake. And now the Supreme Court has upheld an order that you must return him to facilitate his return to the United States.

What are you doing to comply? Well, the lawyer that said it was a mistake was here a long time, was not appointed by us, should not have said that, should not have said that. And just so you understand, the person that you're talking about, you know, you're making this person sound, this is a MS-13 gang member, a tough cookie, been in lots of skirmishes, beat the hell out of his wife, and the wife was petrified to even talk about him, okay? This is not an innocent wonderful gentleman from now on i'm not saying he's a good guy it's about the rule of law the order from the supreme court stands he came into our country illegally you could get him back there's a phone on this desk i could you

could pick it up and like all the power of the presidency you could call up the president of el salvador and say send him back right now and if he were the gentleman that you say he is i would do that but the court has ordered you to facilitate that i'm not the one making this decision we have lawyers that don't want to do this but the buck stops i know no no no i follow the law you want me to follow the law if i were the president that just wanted to do anything i'd probably keep him right where he is says what the law is there's another instance in that interview as well, where the reporter, Terry Moran, says, look, Donald, the law requires that every single person get due process, that there is a process that is provided to them. And Trump says, that's not what my lawyers have told

me. Here, play this clip. Here, including terrorists, by the way. Now, but we give them a hearing when they came in. Well, the law requires that every single person who is going to be deported gets a hearing first. Well, I'll have to ask the lawyers about that. All I can say is this. If you're going to have 21 million people and we have to get a lot of them out because they're criminals, we're going to have to act fast. We can't. Do you think we can give 21 million trials? Let's say each trial takes two weeks.

Is that what you want us to do? The law is the law, sir. The law is the law. The law doesn't say anything about trials. No, not trials hearings. These people came in. They're not citizens. They came in illegally.

They came into a country illegally. We have to get them out. There's a legal process for that. I can't be sure. And we follow the legal process. I can't, I can't have a trial, a major trial for every person that came in illegally. If you go through Donald Trump's Time Magazine interview from last week and you see what Donald Trump said, you'll see that he consistently throws his lawyers under the bus as well. By the way, all of this is going to be used in these federal court proceedings. So this was the Time Magazine interview. Donald, you committed to complying with all Supreme Court orders? Trump says, yes. When you and I last spoke, April, are you still committed to complying with the Supreme Court orders? Trump goes, sure. I believe in the court system. The reporter goes,

well, the Supreme Court ruled nine to zero that you have to bring back Abrego Garcia. You haven't done so. Are you disobeying the Supreme Court? Trump goes, well, that's not what my people told me. They didn't say it was. They said it was the nine to nothing was something entirely different. Then the reporter goes, well, let me quote from the ruling, quote, the order properly requires the government to facilitate Abrego Garcia's release from custody in El Salvador. Are you facilitating the release? Trump goes, I leave that to my lawyers. I give them no instructions. They feel that the order said something very much different from what you're saying, but I leave that to my lawyers. If they want. And that would be the attorney general of the United States and the people that represent the country. I don't make that decision. OK, maybe. But, Mr. President, whatever he might have done, Abrego, whoever he might be affiliated with, doesn't he deserve his day in court? And Trump goes, I really just give that to my lawyers to determine. That's why I have them. That's not my determination.

It's something that, frankly, bringing him back and retrying him wouldn't bother me. But I leave that up to my lawyer. You could bring him back and retry him. To which the reporter goes, that's exactly right. You could fix this simply by bringing him back and going through a legal process. To which Trump says one more time, but I leave that decision to the lawyers. At this moment, they, the lawyers, just don't want to do that. They say that we're in total compliance with the Supreme Court. And Trump goes on to say that over and over again. Just one other point I want to bring up here as well. Remember in the earlier clip I showed you, Donald Trump said that Abrego Garcia's wife doesn't want to talk to him or hates

him or words to that effect. Just so I can fact check everything that Donald Trump is saying, this is the wife of Abrego Garcia. This is from April 15th. I'm only going to show you a short portion of this clip, but she makes a heartfelt plea to Donald Trump. I want my husband back. He's the father of our children. Abrego Garcia's wife lives in Maryland. She and Abrego have three kids together. The kids are American citizens. Abrego Garcia has no criminal history at all. He was given a work permit by the Trump administration in 2019. There was a withholding order in 2019 as well, saying you can't send him to El Salvador. And he's been showing up. He works in a union. I mean, he's been showing up to ICE every year. He's a member of the community there. I know the Trump regime wants to act like this guy is like Bin Laden, but it would be like if that's the case.

So then you in 2019, Trump gave Bin Laden a work permit and he works at the union and he just shows up and checks in with ICE voluntarily. I mean, that's what you're arguing with no criminal history here in the United States. But just so you can hear what Abrego Garcia's wife says here, play this clip. After his disappearance and I stand before you filled with spirit that refuses to bring down. I will not stop fighting until I see my husband alive. Kilmar, if you can hear me, stay strong. God hasn't forgotten about you. Our children are asking, when will you come home?

And I pray for the day I tell them the time and date that you'll return it seems like you hear about a new round of layoffs every day so what's the best way to dodge the next round well you get the skills that companies need so you make yourself indispensable this podcast is sponsored by udacity want to learn skills that command high salaries udacity is an online learning platform with courses in AI, data, programming, and more. When you learn with Udacity, you're not just passively watching videos or reading articles. You're doing practical exercises and projects that prepare you for the job that you want. That's why 87% of Udacity graduates say that they achieved their enrollment goal. Now, last week, I tried Udacity's course on cybersecurity,

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recruiters and employers take notice. So for a better job, better salary, and better skills, check out Udacity today. The tech field is always evolving, and you should be too. You can try Udacity risk-free for seven days. Head to udacity.com slash Midas and use code Midas for 40% off your order. Once again, that's udacity.com backslash Midas for 40% off and make sure that you use my promo code Midas so they know that I sent you. Then there's this other aspect too, from that interview on ABC where Donald Trump claims that the MS-13, that on Abrego's knuckles, it says MS-13, and it doesn't. I mean, Abrego has tattoos in that area, but then photoshopped on his hand was the letters MS and the numbers 13. That's not actually on his hand. But Donald Trump is saying what he's been told, what he's been given ostensibly by lawyers. He claims is that it says actually it says MS-13.

By the way, even if it said MS-13 on it, then you Trump administration one gave this guy a work permit. He would still be entitled to due process. And then ultimately, if he was found to be a bad guy, then there could be accountability for it. I'm not sure the accountability should be sending a human being to a concentration camp in El Salvador, but we definitely want to see gang members off the street. They can be held accountable, and there should be full and complete law and order handled. But just Trump saying that this is what his lawyers told him. Here, play this clip right here.

He wasn't a member of a gang, and then they looked, and on his knuckles, he had MS-13. There's a dispute over that. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. He had MS-13 on his knuckles, he had MS-13. There's a dispute over that. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. He had MS-13 on his knuckles. He had some tattoos that are interpreted that way. But let's move on. Wait a minute.

Hey, Terry, Terry, Terry. He did not have the letter MS-13. It says MS-13. That was Photoshopped. That was Photoshopped, Terry. You can't do that. Hey, they're giving you the big break of a lifetime You know, you're doing the interview. I picked you because frankly, I never heard of you, but that's okay

I picked you Terry. Hey, but you're not being very nice. He had ms-13 tattoo agree to disagree I'll go on to something Harry Do you want me to show you the picture? I saw the picture well Here we go. Here we go Photoshop it. Don't look at his hand. He had MS-13. He did have tattoos that can be interpreted that way. I'm not an expert on them. I want to turn to Ukraine.

I want to get to Ukraine. No, no. He had MS as clear as you can be, not interpreted. This is why people no longer believe the news because it's fake news. In El Salvador, they aren't there. But let's just go. They aren't there when he's in El Salvador. Oh, they weren't there, but they're there now, right?

No, but they're there in your picture. Terry. Ukraine, sir. He's got MS-13 on his knuckles. All right. OK, we'll take a look. It's such a disservice. We'll take a look at that, sir.

Why don't you just say, yes, he does. And, you know, go on to something else. He's contested. So now Trump's lawyers have to go in front of these federal judge, the federal judge in Maryland, Judge Zinnes. There's a Trump appointed federal judge in Maryland as well. And another case involving a 20 year old Venezuelan who this Trump appointed judge ordered be returned. And and the same way Abrego Garcia's got to be returned, consistent with the Supreme Court's 9-0 order.

There's a Trump-appointed judge in Louisiana who's saying that the Trump administration sent a two-year-old from a two-year-old United States citizen to Honduras and deported United States citizens. So I guess Trump's plan is to engage in this cruelty and then blame it on his lawyers. And now his lawyers, I mean, you see this order by Judge Zinnes here, his lawyers have to now show up before the court and justify why they're not in compliance. And Trump's saying that they could do it if they just gave him the advice. You see what Trump's doing right there? Let me know what you think. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 5 million subscribers. Thanks for watching. The truth is more important than ever. Check out our new Truth Over Lies

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