Furious Judge Throws Trump’s Lawyer Out in Open Court

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2:22Michael Popok:Chalk up another win for Letitia James, the New York Attorney General in her office, because she has successfully convinced a judge, federal judge in New York, Lorna Schofield, to not only find that one of Donald Trump's handpicked prosecutors was illegally appointed as a U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, but has also achieved the remedy where Judge Schofield has ordered that John Sarconi, not only that his subpoenas that were issued under his name as a phony interim or acting U.S. attorney are invalid so that the New York Attorney General's office can't ignore them completely.

3:00Michael Popok:But she went one step further and said that John Sarkoni cannot be involved with any prosecution involving Letitia James, the New York Rifle Association, or the National Rifle Association, or the prosecution or the case brought by the Attorney General's office against Donald Trump and his family for fraud. And the investigation that they're trying to do on behalf of Donald Trump to get into that investigation, John Sarkone has been sidelined from that under Judge Schofield's new order, which I'm going to read for you and put up in Legal AF Substack. Thanks for being here on Midas Touch and on Legal AF.

3:41Michael Popok:Let's dive into it. You might think this is a bit of a broken record because Lorna Schofield represents the sixth judge, six judge plus one, I'll tell you about the one in a minute, that has all ruled against Donald Trump from the district court level up to the appellate level in places like Nevada, California, New Jersey, Eastern District of Virginia, and now in New York, that Donald Trump has violated the required statutes and constitution and illegally appointing people to be his chosen prosecutors, U.S. attorneys, in one of the 93 districts that make up our federal court system. All Donald Trump has to do is appoint somebody that can get the support in the Senate, put that person through the Senate confirmation process, and he's got himself a U.S.

4:25Michael Popok:attorney like any other rational president. But Donald Trump doesn't want to do that. He doesn't care about these people actually getting confirmed by the Senate. He instead wants to just use them for as short amount of time as possible to go after his political rivals and political critics like James Comey, former FBI director, or Lindsay or Letitia James, New York attorney general, or Lisa Cook, a Federal Reserve board member, fill in the blank, right? And this is all being led behind the scenes by Donald Trump's handpicked Department of Justice personnel, Pam Bondi, and then Ed Martin, right?

5:03Michael Popok:Ed Martin, who could not himself get confirmed as a U.S. attorney for D.C. That's why we have Jeanine Pirro, but he's running something called the Weaponization Committee of the Department of Justice, and he picked Sarconi. Sarconi got in, and now Judge Schofield has said, no, you were illegally appointed. The subpoenas you issued are quashed, and you can't participate in this investigation any longer. Take a moment while you're here. We're building for 2026. We've got to get bigger. We've got to get global over on Legal AF. go down to the links below and you can become a paid member now to really support what we do on Legal AF YouTube channel.

5:41Michael Popok:We just opened it yesterday. We got over 100 paid members. Try to be in the founding group. And then Legal AF has a sub stack, which also has paid membership for your support. All right, let's get down to page nine. Let me back it up a bit. the appointment of John Sarkoni was fined for the first 120 days under the statute, 28 U.S.C. 546. The 120 days expired in July, and he kept going. And then he sent a letter to the judges of the Northern District of New York, and he said, hey, great news. I'm now a special attorney appointed by Pam Bondi, and I get to sit around for 210 days. Everything okay now?

6:20Michael Popok:No, not everything's not okay. You only get to have a 210-day additional term if you satisfy one of the two criterias in the statute. You're already in that particular office for 90 days. John Sarconi was a MAGA lawyer, never been a prosecutor before. So of course, he didn't have that criteria, didn't meet that criteria. Or you are Senate confirmed in some other position. Like maybe you were Senate confirmed for the Securities and Exchange Commission. Okay, you can slide over and be the U.S. attorney for 210 days until Donald Trump gets his act together. But Sarkoni didn't satisfy either of those.

7:00Michael Popok:He just kept issuing subpoenas, which have now been declared to be illegal. Here's what Judge Schofield says on page nine. Mr. Sarkoni is not lawfully serving as acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District. His appointment violates the Federal Vacancy Reform Act and the statutes governing U.S. attorney appointments. Several courts, including the Third Circuit, have recently addressed similar appointment maneuvers and reached the same conclusion. See, Judge Schofield is standing on the shoulders of a body of work in which judges in Nevada and California, judges the Third Circuit Court of Appeals sitting in Philadelphia, who bounced Alina Habba and fired her that led to her residing.

7:38Michael Popok:Judge Curry in the Eastern District of Virginia finding that Lindsay Halligan was illegally appointed. Now, they've all handled it slightly differently. Like Third Circuit said, position vacated to be filled by the judges. Habba saw the writing on the wall with the Department of Justice and she resigned. Lindsay Halligan, Judge Curry found that she was illegally appointed before Thanksgiving, said that there was a vacancy, but Lindsay Halligan kept showing up to work, which has caught the ire of Judge Novak, who yesterday in Eastern District of Virginia issued a scathing order directed at Lindsey Halligan to explain why effectively she shouldn't be disbarred from practicing law before him in his court by masquerading as a U.S.

8:23Michael Popok:attorney. Good question. She has about five more days to file something with her signature on it, and we're all on pins and needles, including Judge Novak, as to whether Lindsey Halligan signs her name as the acting U.S. attorney or U.S. attorney again. One piece of advice, free advice to Lindsey Halligan, don't. Just say you're Citizen Halligan, but that's for another hot take.

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9:57Michael Popok:To get your 20 % off, text LEGALAF to 64000. Text legal AF to 64 ,000. That's legal AF to 64 ,000. Message and data rates may apply. See terms for details. Let's go back to Mr. Sarkoni. Because this is on page nine, Judge Schofield, because Mr. Sarkoni used authority he did not lawfully possess to direct the issuance of the subpoenas, the subpoenas are quashed, meaning they're not valid any longer. Mr. Sarkoni is also disqualified from further participation in the underlying criminal investigation. She then goes through on page 10 and 11. There's only four ways to fill a vacancy. And Donald Trump effed them all up.

10:40Michael Popok:Just effed them all up. You get somebody for 120 days, well, that's expired. You put somebody else in that's already Senate confirmed or has been in the office for 90 days, John Sarkoni doesn't satisfy that. Or the district court judges take over and they appoint somebody until the president can get around to taking the position. The only other way to do it is the actual first assistant that was in the office at the time the vacancy was created can step into the role. John Sarkoni wasn't the first assistant. They try to make him that later. Or as Judge Schofield said in her order about all these maneuvers, here's what she said on page two.

11:28Michael Popok:The U.S. attorney initially appointed Mr. Sarkoni as interim for 120 days. When that term expired, the district judges declined to extend his tenure. The Department of Justice did not follow any of the procedures that the federal law requires. Instead, when the judges refused to extend his term, the department took coordinated steps through personnel moves and shifting titles to install Mr. Sarkoni as acting U.S. attorney. Federal law does not permit such a workaround. Let me show you John Sarkoni you know who I'm talking about. Here's a clip from John Sarkoni. I'm appalled that there was no police presence around the Capitol.

12:07In fact, Albany police never even showed up on the scene. You have the U.S. attorney chased down the street with a knife, knife-wielding maniac. Not one call from the chief of police, not one spot car pulled up. And thank God I called the sheriff and said of the Albany police because they should have been there. The legislature was in session, OK, a lot of people up in the Capitol and you've got no police presence at all. Disgraceful. And I'm not blaming, you know, the police department itself. I'm just talking about Albany County, whoever runs the show and whichever whoever is putting out budgets and saying whether police can be there or not be there.

12:48That's what I'm talking about. Not qualified, not qualified. Now, the remedy is interesting.

12:58Michael Popok:I want to compare it to what Judge Curry did in the Eastern District of Virginia about Lindsay Allegan. She declared that there was a vacancy in the position for the entire office and that Lindsay Allegan was no longer U.S. attorney and the job had to be filled by somebody else. That didn't stop her from going to work every day. And that's the problem that Judge Novak pointed out and is requiring a new filing. But she declared a vacancy for all criminal matters and civil matters that are in that district. That's not what Judge Schofield did. Maybe because she's not in the Northern District of New York.

13:30Michael Popok:She's in the Southern District of New York where the case was sent to Manhattan because of the conflict of interest between the federal judges and Mr. Sarconi. She instead said the following. He's not bounced from every position and running the office. He is bounced from everything related effectively to Letitia James. Mr. Sarkoni on page 24 is disqualified from further involvement in prosecuting or supervising any investigation pertaining to New York versus Trump. See, this is them investigating the New York attorney general's investigation that led to the fraud accounts being proven before Judge Angoran in New York state Supreme Court against Donald Trump and his family.

14:12Michael Popok:Or the National Rifle Association here, Donald Trump trying to support friendly neighborhood NRA again. But he has now bounced from all those investigations. And he can't be involved with any new subpoenas to her office. Will Trump and Sarconi and Bondi and Ed Martin defy Judge Schofield's order? If they do, look for Letitia James's office and very skilled lawyers running back to Judge Schofield and telling him that and finding a contempt proceeding or contempt order. What Schofield really wants to have happen is that the case goes back to the Northern District, like in Albany, New York, and let it play out there on the subpoenas.

14:51Michael Popok:She originally said, I know there's a lot of attacks on the investigation, that it was retaliatory, that it's done for a vindictive investigation of prosecution. I'm leaving that for another judge. I'm just doing whether he, Sarkoni, was illegally appointed, and I find that he was. We'll continue to follow it all. Thanks for being here. This is Michael Popak reporting. 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.

15:31Michael Popok: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. Wear legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.

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