Fed Up Judge issues Back to Back Orders on Trump Slavery Scheme

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1:01Michael Popok:There's a battle brewing in Philadelphia between the federal government and a judge. I feel like I'm back in old timey times, like it's the American Revolution. This has to do with some stubborn little facts that Donald Trump doesn't like, that our founding fathers owned slaves. Yes, Donald Trump woke up one day like Rip Van Winkle and said, there was slavery? Take it down. Use a crowbar if you have to. Literally had the Park Service take a crowbar to an exhibit that celebrated and made tribute to nine slaves, including one that escaped from being owned by our founding father, George Washington.

1:36Michael Popok:Yes, historical perspective is important to understand these things. Donald Trump doesn't want to understand these things. And now there's a battle between the federal judge, Judge Roof, who had to issue yet another order on top of her order from two days ago to make sure that the exhibits are returned to their original way as they were before mid-January when Donald Trump ripped them down. Donald Trump said, well, I appealed it. Would you believe Donald Trump is going to an appellate court to try to convince them that under a 1950 agreement that the National Park Service has with Philadelphia and that he has with the American people as president, that he's allowed to rewrite history and take down plaques that commemorate the fact that human beings owned other human beings in the United States.

2:22Michael Popok:He really feels this is the hill to die on, that he's going to go to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love, to argue for the defacing, the graffiti, the scarring of a national monument, Independence Hall Center. This is out in front of, let's put this in perspective, this monument to the president's house where Adams and Washington live, next to the Liberty Bell, is right across the courtyard from the reproduction of Independence Hall, where our nation's Declaration of Independence and Constitution were written. We're not talking about some mall exhibit in middle America.

3:00Michael Popok:We're talking about Philadelphia. And the fact that she has to issue after having raked Trump and the Department of Justice over the coals two days ago in her scathing order comparing Donald Trump to a low-level chief magistrate and comparing his administration to George Orwell's Ministry of Truth, you'd think they'd know better that this judge wasn't going to back off. Sure, Donald Trump went for an appeal, but it hasn't been blocked. The order has not been stayed by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, at least at the time of this recording. She hasn't stayed it either. Let's catch up with this case and another one filed in Massachusetts by conservationists, by those who enjoy and love national parks and don't want to see them defaced by this president.

3:43Michael Popok:It's now pending a Massachusetts district court in order to stop Donald Trump from making good on his threats in March of 2025 with his executive order that he was going to rewrite history. No, says America. No, says we the people. You're on Midas Touch and Legal AF on Michael Popak. let's get to the heart of this particular matter, has to do with something near and dear to my heart. I've been going to Independence Hall and that particular area in Philadelphia since I was in short pants. I lived on the Jersey Shore. We went there regularly on class trips, you know, all through my elementary school days and beyond.

4:22Michael Popok:We bought my wife's wedding dress in Philadelphia. You know, we love Philadelphia and not just the cheesesteaks, the history. How many times have I toward Betsy Ross's house or Constitution Hall or Independence Hall or the things around it, the first meeting places and Carpenter's Hall and all this other amazing stuff. I never thought for a minute that Donald Trump would try to take a big giant magic marker, Sharpie, and rewrite history. Remember, we reported a year ago. It's been a year, a little bit about a month less than a year, when Lindsey Halligan, yes, the disgraced short-term, short-time prosecutor, no longer of the Department of Justice.

5:01Michael Popok:But her first job in the Trump administration was to work inside of the White House to rewrite history at the Smithsonian and all of their dozen of museums in Washington. Donald Trump wasn't impeached twice. You know how I know that? Because it's not in the exhibit in the Smithsonian any longer. Rewrote history. Anything Donald Trump didn't like. Why do we have to talk about slavery so much? Wait till they get to the museum of the African-American experience. What are they going to do there? I can only imagine. No, I don't want to imagine. That's why these lawsuits have been filed. So Judge Roof, as I reported, citing to George Orwell two days ago, told Donald Trump, get your mitts, your greasy little hands, off of our national pride and our memorials and restore it to the way it was immediately.

5:51Michael Popok:And then she woke up today and realized on the 18th that they hadn't done it. So she had to issue a second order. Let me read to you from both orders and then tell you where we're at with the stay and the appeal. And a very interesting twist with a Trumper sitting in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and whether he's going to recuse himself or not in the form of Emil Bovey, who would get this case by random assignment, potentially. Busy days, big goals, but no time to cook. I've been using Factor. Fully prepared meals designed by dieticians and crafted by chefs so you can eat well without the planning or cooking.

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7:10Michael Popok:No prep, no stress. I use this and you should too. Head to factormeals.com slash legal AF50 off and use code LEGALAF50OFF to get 50 % off and free breakfast for a year. Eat like a pro this month with Factor. New subscribers only varies by plan. One free breakfast item per box for one year while subscription is active. Let's go over the new order. The new order, just out, hot off the presses, no pun intended, is signed by Judge Cynthia Roof. It says, now and now, this 18th day of February, upon consideration of the defendant's failure to comply with the court's order on the 16th, order to forthwith, black bold caps, follow terms and conditions of the order.

8:04Michael Popok:It is hereby ordered, black bold caps, that defendant shall comply with the terms of the order by restoring the president's house site to its physical status before they tore everything down. Now, in her earlier order, and I mean just two days ago, she repeatedly referenced George Orwell and said, no, just because you're in power doesn't mean you get to rewrite the facts and take down the plaque, memorializing and paying tribute to the nine people who were enslaved by our founding father. You can't do it under the written agreement starting in 1950 between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the federal government, and you can't do it in general.

8:46Michael Popok:It's not your power. Despite your executive order on March the 27th of 2025, Executive Order 14 ,253, in which he said, quote, it is the policy of my administration to restore federal sites dedicated to history, to solemn and uplifting public monuments, and remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage, consistent progress towards becoming a more perfect union and advancing liberty and prosperity and human flourishing. I guess we leave out the human suffering part of enslaving and other people. And so she also pointed out an interesting back and forth colloquy she had with a lawyer for the Department of Justice who actually suggested that you can both sides against slavery.

9:37Michael Popok:I guess you can both sides the Holocaust under that theory. He actually said, or she actually said in court at the hearing that it's not for the city or for even implying for the federal judge to decide what the facts are, that there are people with different opinions about this particular issue. I'm like, different opinions about slavery? What pro-slavery group is Donald Trump trying to attract at time for the midterms? I just don't understand the target audience for this. And so she found it to be arbitrary and capricious, violating the law under the Administrative Procedures Act about the way it was done, violates the documents and the contracts between the city, the state, and the federal government.

10:29Michael Popok:This is what the plaque said. She says on page 31, it is not disputed that President Washington owned slaves. These are objective historical truths. The people who Washington held in slavery include, and then they list all the people by name and what they did, forced to do under slavery. And yet in this argument, the government claims the power to erase, alter, remove, and hide. This is page 32 of her order. At the largest section of the government's records department are people trying to track down copies of books and newspapers which have been superseded and due for destruction and rewrite them over and over again.

11:16Michael Popok:At oral argument, she said the defendants insisted as follows. Although many people feel strongly about this one way, other people may disagree or feel strongly another way about slavery. Ultimately, it is in this context that the government gets to choose the message it wants to convey. The message that the government chooses to convey is the government to choose. I don't get to choose the message, the lawyer said, and that's our position. The city doesn't either. No. As the judge wrote, the government here, likewise, asserts truth is no longer self-evident, but rather the property of the elected chief magistrate.

11:55Michael Popok:That's a slap at Trump. and his appointees and delegates at his whim to be scraped clean, hidden, or otherwise overridden. And why? Solely because he has the power. So that brings us to the battle that's brewing. They didn't ask the judge to stay her order because she wasn't going to. She's now told them, get it done by Friday. They run to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia and ask them to stay or just block the order. and they haven't, at least as of yet. We'll have to see what judges are assigned. I would hope that Emil Bovee, Donald Trump's prior chief criminal defense lawyer, one of the people who in just the several months that he was in the Department of Justice, well, one of the biggest violators of our civil liberties and our civil rights, I would hope that he would recuse himself and not be on the panel.

12:47Michael Popok:Now, this is a gift to the Democrats, once again, showing the perversity, the immorality, the lack of patriotism of the Trump administration as they try to graffiti their way through national monuments, slapping Donald Trump's name on everything, or taking off immutable facts. We have a clip from the mayor of Philadelphia who welcomes the fight over the facts of slavery with this administration. And I agree with her. And here's a clip.

13:20Ben Meiselas:Let me affirm for the residents of the city of Philadelphia that there is a cooperative agreement between the city and the federal government that dates back to 2006. in six. That agreement requires parties to meet and confer if there are to be any changes made to an exhibit. And our city solicitor, Renee Garcia, is working in conjunction with the amazing members of our law department team and working to follow up on that cooperative agreement. and we will keep you posted as to the results of all of our action. And that's all of the comment that I will be making about that issue on today.

14:12Michael Popok:Now we're going to continue to follow this case, the ups and downs from the appellate court back down to Judge Roof, who's not going to give up, not going to give in, and either should we. And we'll follow the developments in the case filed in the District of Massachusetts about stopping Donald Trump from making good on his other threats. I mean, he's busy putting the Confederate soldiers and Confederate generals' statues back up, renaming army bases and putting the Confederate soldiers' name back on it, whether he sees that, because he doesn't see that as a thumb in the eye of Americans who trace their heritage back to slavery.

14:46Michael Popok:We can form a more perfect union. We must acknowledge our sins and our faults. We must embrace them. Teach them. Just like we have to teach about the Holocaust and genocide, et cetera, et cetera. And then from that, learn to be a better people led by an adult, a moral president not named Donald Trump. We'll do it together. We'll overcome this administration together. I'm Michael Popak. Come over to Legal AF YouTube channel. Hit the subscribe button there. And if you want to read all about Judge Roof and my source materials, come over to Legal AF Substack for paid members and you can do it. So until my next report, I'm Michael Popak.

15:26Michael Popok:Can't get your fill of Legal AF? Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF 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 AF. What else? All the other contributors from Legal AF 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 AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.