Judge Catches Trump in the Act with Zero Evidence

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1:00Michael Popok:Absolutely zero evidence to support a criminal prosecution even being opened against Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell. That's something that was confessed and admitted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of Columbia, by Jeanine Pirro's right-hand person and the head of their criminal division in a hearing that we didn't know about until just the last 24 hours before Chief Judge Jeb Boesberg. Now we know why the subpoenas were quashed by Jeb Bozberg against the Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell. This all has to do with a$2.5 billion project related to the Federal Reserve and remodeling two 100-year-old buildings.

1:45Michael Popok:But Donald Trump wants to harass and intimidate Jay Powell to get him to resign or to step down as the chairman of the Federal Reserve and to cut interest rates. That's what this is all about, not about a criminal case. I mean, it is very unusual, almost unprecedented for a federal judge to quash subpoenas finding that the prosecution and investigation were commenced in bad faith. He has to find at the very, very core of the case that this was meant to harass and intimidate the person, not for legitimate criminal investigatory purposes. And that's what the judge did. But now we know why. in his brief, relying on a hearing transcript we didn't have our hands on yet, the judge said he offered the government in closed door in his chambers the opportunity to present any evidence they had to show that the couple of billion dollar cost overrun, which by the way is not unusual, given the size of the project at all, is the result of fraud or criminal fraud.

2:55Michael Popok:And the judge said, I gave them the opportunity and the government at the hearing declined to offer any other evidence, nor did they supply any for the judge's personal review. But it's worse because in the transcript that's now been released, the head of the criminal division for the Department of Justice's U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C., a guy by the name of George A. Masuko Latayef told the judge that he doesn't have any evidence at all. The judge says, why do you think there's even the right to open up a criminal investigation? He said, well, the project is$1.2 billion in cost overrun. So therefore, there's 1.2 billion reasons why they need to open up a criminal fraud investigation.

3:47Michael Popok:But they don't know of any evidence right now. This completely blows a hole into the argument that Donald Trump is in good faith through his Department of Justice pursuing Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell. And as I've said earlier, that this has painted Donald Trump into a quarter of his own making. I guess all quarters you paint yourself into are of your own making because now he can't get his new Federal Reserve Board of Governor picked, confirmed. He can't get that person to be elevated to chair by May 15th because Republicans are blocking it on the Senate Banking Committee, Senate Finance Committee, that has oversight over the Federal Reserve because they don't like the criminal case against Jay Powell.

4:29Michael Popok:I'll bring it all together here with this new reporting about the transcript that kills the case against the government here on Midas Touch and on Legal AF. I mean, Donald Trump can't even get the numbers right about the cost overrun. Yes, we will all admit there was a cost overrun, just as the big golden ballroom for Donald Trump is double the price that he said it was going to be, now upwards of half a billion dollars. And then Donald Trump has the brass ones, the gold ones, to say out loud that two giant buildings that are 100 years old that have never been renovated for the Federal Reserve at all with asbestos and old electrical and old elevators, that it would just be$25 million to renovate those buildings, not what he said was$4 billion.

5:21Michael Popok:First of all, it's$2.5 billion. The question is whether they're$1.5 billion or$1.2 billion over budget. He can't even get numbers right. Here's Donald Trump with the Japanese prime minister who visited him. And when he wasn't insulting her, reminding her about Pearl Harbor. Oh, yes, he went there. You know something about sneak attacks, don't you? He then blurted out these false numbers because he's claiming as Bob the Builder president, he'd be able to do the whole project for$25 million. Really? Your golden ballroom went for$200 million to$400 million and rising. Play the clip. He's building a complex over there that's under his jurisdiction.

6:01he started it and it's out of control it's billions of dollars for a little building i could have done that building and made it beautiful for 25 million dollars 25 million and it would have been beautiful look what i've done at the white house fixing it up and i mean the place was in bad shape you see the floors and everything it was in bad shape i could have i could made that building beautiful for$25 million. They're spending$4 billion?

6:34Michael Popok:Now, we got the order from Jeb Boesberg, the judge, on March 11th, in which he quashed the subpoenas. He ended the criminal investigation. But now we know why. Because he asked the head of the criminal division, the right-hand person for Janine Pirro, Mr. Masuka Latayef, what do you got? You got evidence? He's all, it's a$1.2 billion cost overrun. Well, that can't be it. Just to give, and this was submitted by the lawyers for the Federal Reserve and for J-PAL. Just as an example, the Department of Homeland Security, you know, in the news a lot, it's St. Elizabeth campus is as of 2014 was$1.5 billion over budget.

7:23Michael Popok:That's 2014 money, and it's not done yet in 2026. So we're talking about several billions of dollars in cost overrun, Department of Homeland Security. Nobody's claiming that's criminal. Even Donald Trump thinks it may be the contractor, but not Jay Powell. Capital Visitor Center, twice the budgeted amount to finish. The Reagan Building at the International Trade Center, twice the amount. Donald Trump's ballroom, twice the amount. This is what happens, especially when you're not even building from scratch. You're renovating two aging old buildings that haven't been touched in 100 years. And you're using old plans.

8:05Michael Popok:I've done construction litigation cases. Contractors get in there, they're like, where did this come from? Why is there a giant pipe in the middle of the foundation? Why is there granite in this spot? Or things like that. Or, well, we thought we could salvage the electrical system, but we can't. Or, you know, the asbestos remediation was more costly than we thought. I've always had kind of a love-hate relationship with coffee. I love the taste, the smell, that whole ritual. But the caffeine, it does not love me back. Like one cup in and suddenly my heart is racing. I'm jittery and my brain is going in five different directions at once.

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10:22Michael Popok:Now, there's also an interesting lineup of lawyers here that I wanted to bring to your attention as well, along with this new transcript information, which totally blows the doors off of what Janine Pirro told the public. Remember when Jeanine Pirro didn't like the result and she said, oh, Judd Boesberg, a radical leftist judge, has bathed the head of the Federal Reserve at immunity. No, he just heard what we just heard, which is your right hand person said there's no evidence to support a criminal case. And no, the dollar amounts are not indicative of a fraud. What's the argument that Jay Powell lined his own pockets with money from the construction case?

11:01Michael Popok:That's what I said at the top of this hot take. I can't even envision what the criminal case would look like. Is there a money trail? Do they have deposits in Jay Powell's bank account, you know, from kickbacks from the contractors or subcontractors or material suppliers? I mean, if they did, then I would support him being prosecuted. But if they don't, this is what Jeb Boesberg said, the judge said. This is about intimidation and harassment to get him to resign, to get him to lower interest rates or both. That's all it is. Here's who could ever forget Janine Pirro and her unhinged press conference play.

11:36The American public is fed up with public monies that seem to go into a black hole, especially in D.C., where no one is held accountable. One of the age-old tools that all prosecutors have to investigate any crime, including cost overruns, is a grand jury subpoena. Today, however, in Washington, an activist judge has taken that tool away from us. By inserting himself and preventing the grand jury from even obtaining, let alone hearing evidence, he has neutered the grand jury's ability to investigate crime. As a result, Jerome Powell today is now bathed in immunity, preventing my office from investigating the Federal Reserve.

12:39This is wrong and it is without legal authority.

12:45Michael Popok:Now, let me give you the lineup for the lawyers. I think it's very interesting. The Federal Reserve has hired Robert Herr. Now, Robert Herr, you may remember, was the special counsel Merrick Garland picked, a Republican, used to be the Maryland U.S. attorney, to investigate Joe Biden and his handling of the documents, you know, the boxes of documents in Joe Biden's garage that he forgot about. And this is the guy that wrote the 300-page report where he said, oh, Joe Biden's losing it. His memory's failing. He's a nice old man, and I'm not going to prosecute him. Remember that? I just summarized 300 pages.

13:23Michael Popok:But that's ballsy, right? Robert Herr, former special counsel, special prosecutor, hired by the Federal Reserve, a Republican. It's an insulator, right? How are you going to attack Robert Hur? He helped Trump by trashing Biden at that moment in time and that release in time. So you got Hur. He's also been brought in in some other cases, like Harvard brought him in to negotiate against Donald Trump. Interesting. And then I found it very interesting who Jay Powell hired on his team because he has a team also. Yeah, we're all paying for this, by the way. This is all taxpayer dollars. Jay Powell hired Gerson Swifak, who used to be the general counsel, meaning the top lawyer, top law enforcement, top legal counsel inside of Fox News, News Corp.

14:16Michael Popok:Janine Pirro used to work at Fox. I'm sure she knows Gerson. So they brought in somebody that like knows Pirro, used to be Pirro's, I would say, boss from the legal department standpoint. I mean, I was a deputy general counsel in a large company as well. So I get it. But I just think the chess that's being played strategically with these different lawyers being hired, I think is also kind of, you know, inside baseball stuff, but really, really fascinating, hopefully for me, and I made it for you as well. So we're going to follow this story. It's in Donald Trump's hands. All he has to do is tell Janine Pirro to take the loss.

14:55Michael Popok:Just take the loss, take the knee. Don't appeal. the quashing of the subpoenas and the investigation. There is no investigation. We all know it. Then once that's done, because Jay Powell says he's not going anywhere. Remember when he was interviewed during the rate cutting a week or so ago? He said, I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving until the investigation is over. Play it. If there's no Federal Reserve chairman confirmed on May 15th, would you stay on? So if my successor is not confirmed by the end of my term as chair, I would serve as chair pro tem. That is what the law calls for. That's what we've done on several occasions, including involving me.

15:33And it's what we're going to do in this situation. And while I'm at it, on the question whether I will leave while the investigation is ongoing, I have no intention of leaving the board until the investigation is well and truly over with transparency and finality. And I would refer you to the statement that was in the Fed's brief that you all have seen. And I won't have anything more for you on that. On the question of whether I will then continue to serve as a governor after my term ends and after the investigation is over, I have not made that decision yet. And I will make that decision based on what I think is best for the institution and for the people we serve.

16:10Figuring you probably were going to set the dominoes off there.

16:14Michael Popok:So what do you do? You just take the loss, don't appeal. Then Tom Tellis, the Republican member of the Senate Banking Committee, will vote in favor of Kevin Warsh, your pick, to be the next Federal Reserve chair. Jay Powell will slide down to be a regular governor. He stays until 2028, and we're done. Donald Trump doesn't want that. He wants Jay Powell off so that he can get the fourth seat of the seven-member Board of Governors and take control, ultimately, of interest rates. That's what we're watching. And Donald Trump, rather than logically think this through from a game strategy standpoint, he can't because he's incapable because he's gone round the bend.

16:57Michael Popok:He's gone bonkers. And those around him only enable him. So I'm going to continue to follow it. I'm glad you're here on Midas Touch. Hit the free subscribe button. Come over to Legal AF YouTube channel where I spend most of my day. Hit the free subscribe button there as well. Until my next report, this is Michael. Can't get your fill of Legal AF? Me either. 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.

17:31What 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.

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