Judge Makes Major Ruling on Trump’s Past He Feared

0:00Michael Popok:In breaking news, yet another federal judge, make that three, who are telling Donald Trump and his Department of Justice, release the damn files in the Epstein matter. Berman, Richard Berman, judge in New York, on the heels of Judge Engelmeyer, on the heels of Judge Rothenberg, has said that the Trump administration has failed to meet its burden to show that the quote unquote grand jury transcripts, which are pretty scant and slim pickings to begin with, should be released in the interest of public interest. Or to paraphrase Judge Berman, you're sitting on the treasure trove of information. You're sitting on the 10 ,000 pages of documents.

0:41You're in the best position to release it to the public. Stop barking up the tree of federal judges. Very similar to what Judge Engelmeyer ruled last week

0:50Michael Popok:in his rulings about the Ghislaine Maxwell transcripts. Judge Berman is all about the Epstein prosecution, prosecution because he was the presiding judge. You're on Legal AF and on the Midas Touch Network. Let's get to the breaking news part, the part that I love when I get to read from orders where Donald Trump has lost. How did we get here? We got here because Donald Trump promised the American people during the campaign and certainly after his presidency started that he would release the Epstein files in their entirety. That's what he said. That's what Pam Bondi said. That's what that's what Kash Patel, the FBI director said in writing, including in February, that they would release it all.

1:30No stone would go unturned. No document would be, except to protect the victims, would be held back. And what have they done?

1:38Michael Popok:Holding back documents, all of them, not releasing anything, and hoping the American people wouldn't notice when they issued a two-page memo, closeout memo, which did everything except close this out, to say, there's nothing to see here. There's no Epstein client list. And he died in jail by hanging. He committed suicide. Are we OK now? No, we're not OK now. And the more that Donald Trump and his administration have tried to fix the problem and cover up the crimes, the more the relationship between Donald Trump and his two best friends, Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein, and their child sex trafficking, their raping of girls came to the forefront.

2:20And why is Donald Trump protecting his former best friends? Why isn't he just releasing everything? And then they ran and did the, let's hope Congress can bail us out. Maybe the oversight committee will order us

2:35Michael Popok:to turn over the documents. Maybe that'll get the public on our side. And that hasn't worked. Although the oversight committee is now, in the last 24 hours said, we've got some docs. We got them from the Department of Justice. We're going to be releasing them. We're not going to tell you what they are. They're not going to be edited. They're not going to be complete. But we got some. OK, then then then the Trump tech technique, besides trying to convince everybody it's a hoax to which one thousand sex crimes victims have declared in unison, we are not a hoax. When that didn't work and J.D. Vance going on on Sunday morning talk shows blaming Biden didn't work.

3:12They then turn to why don't we interview Ghislaine Maxwell and give her and give her immunity. But they effed that up too, because it's bad enough you gave her immunity.

3:23Michael Popok:She's a convicted child sex trafficker, convicted of sexual abuse of women and girls. She's serving a 20 year prison sentence. And you're doing business with her as an administration? How low have you sunk that you need a convicted child sex trafficker to vouch for your credibility? Donald Trump, pretty low. And they even screwed that up because then all the deal parts came out. She gets to go and live in a low security prison camp. You know, basically a Beverly Hills prison case. She gets to do that. She's got immunity, blah, blah, blah. And then they said, well, we better have a meeting, a secret meeting at the White House.

4:06Michael Popok:So everybody knew about the secret meeting at the White House. We reported on it. And there they discussed, what should Todd Blanche do with the interview he took? Should he release it? Should he edit it? Should he have a press conference? Should he go on Joe Rogan? I'm not making this up. That's all true. And so we're still tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, still no Ghislaine Maxwell interview been released. So now we've got the original three judges that Donald Trump went to Rothenberg in Florida, Engelmeyer in New York, and now Berman in New York, asking them to release under a rule that doesn't really allow the release of grand jury transcripts for very good reason.

4:44We're trying to protect the innocent. We're trying to protect witnesses. We're trying to protect people. We're trying to protect grand jurors. We're trying to protect or make sure that people who would be indicted aren't going to escape. It's very good reasons under Rule 6E of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.

5:02Michael Popok:And here's what Berman had to say. My favorite part, you know, when I read from these things. But again, whatever he's saying is very similar to what Engelmeyer said last week in his. But let me just read to you from the pages that I thought were very, very interesting. Having found that they have not made out their burden, that they concede that they can't meet any of the narrow exceptions of Rule 6E. They're left with this special circumstances, judge. And the judge says, you're not making out your special circumstances at all either. Here's what he says on page 6. The significant and compelling reason to reject the government's position in this litigation.

5:44Michael Popok:is that the government has already undertaken a comprehensive investigation into the Epstein case and not surprisingly has assembled a quote-unquote trove of Epstein documents. That's Pam Bondi's words. Interviews and exhibits and the government committed that it would share its Epstein investigation materials with the public. Here comes the release the damn files part of the order. The department remains committed to transparency and intends to release the remaining Epstein files. February 27, 2025, press release. The government's 100 ,000 pages of Epstein files and materials dwarf, here's the judge again, page seven, the 70-odd pages of Epstein grand jury materials.

6:26Michael Popok:I mean, I wasn't a math major, but 100 ,000 pages over here with the Trump administration versus 70, 70 pages of the grand jury transcripts. You know, when my mom passed away recently unexpectedly, it really hit me. None of us are guaranteed tomorrow. And in that moment, I started thinking hard about what would happen to my family if something happened to me. Would they be financially okay? Could they keep up with the mortgage, college plans, everything? That's why I looked into life insurance through Ethos. Because it's fast, easy, and it helps protect your family's financial future. I didn't want to deal with a complicated process or get stuck doing a medical exam.

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7:48Michael Popok:The government's Epstein files, the judge continues, are not sui generis. They are investigatory and not subject to federal rule of criminal procedure 6E. The government is the logical party, the judge continues, to make comprehensive disclosure to the public of the Epstein files. And then he drops a footnote just from yesterday, right? This is how or from two days ago. The House Committee on, this is footnote six, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer, Republican Kentucky, I love he puts that Republican Kentucky in there, has recently stated that the U.S.

8:26Michael Popok:Department of Justice informed the committee it will begin providing Epstein-related records this week. That's where you should look. Release the damn files. The grand jury. Let's see. In February 2025, the government, as noted, was prepared to release the Epstein files. Then on July 6th, 2025, the government announced it would not make the files public. Quote, it is the determination of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted. That's from now July 6, 2025, the DOJ and FBI memo. There is another compelling reason, the judge says, not to unseal the Epstein grand jury materials as this namely possible threats to victim safety and privacy.

9:11Michael Popok:The court received a very compelling letter on August 5th from the three leading victims' rights attorneys who have stated, quote, any disclosure of grand jury material, especially material that could expose or help identify victims in any way, directly affects their fairness, privacy, conferral, and protection guarantees. These attorneys represent numerous survivors of Jeffrey Epstein, including several individuals whose names and identifying information appear in the subject materials. Whether victims do or do not favor unsealing, it is imperative that victims have adequate notice of unsealing and adequate time to respond in advance of disclosure.

9:49Michael Popok:But the judge says victims did not have sufficient notice before the government filed the instant motions. And therefore, that is yet another reason citing two letters provided to him by the victims. Victims are always being forgotten here by the Trump side of the equation. He calls them hoax. He says there's nothing to see here as if child sex trafficking and pedophilia is run of the mill for Donald Trump, especially when it's committed by his best friends that he's currently covering up for. Signed in conclusion for the reasons stated above on page 14 of his order, including the analysis that he did, the motion to unseal the grand jury transcripts and the exhibits in United States versus Epstein are respectfully denied.

10:30Michael Popok:denied Richard M. Berman, United States District Judge. What happens next? It just, with our help, continues to put pressure on the Trump administration. I mean, we're drilling down on this on a daily basis, to force them to release the files. Now they're currently trying to use as a pawn the oversight committee. And the Democrats on that committee are putting a major pressure on there by trying to, well, we wanted to release them, but the committee didn't release them. That's not the committee to release. As this judge, Berman just reminded the Trump administration and the public. It is the Trump administration that is sitting on the treasure trove.

11:06Michael Popok:It is the Trump administration that has the key in their pocket to unlock the door and release the Epstein files to the public that they claim they were going to do in February until they reverse course in July. And we need judges like Judge Engelmeyer and Judge Berman and Judge Rothenberg to join together and say once and for all, release the damn files, Trump administration. Don't bark up our tree. Don't look for us to bail you out. And there's not much in the grand jury proceedings anyway. That's why he said it's 70 pages. There were two total witnesses, two total, between two grand jury proceedings, one for Maxwell and one for Epstein in New York.

11:44Michael Popok:Two witnesses, one overlapped. And they were law enforcement witnesses doing summary testimony. There were no victims who testified. There was no testimony about anybody other than Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. It was done for the purposes of obtaining an indictment, not an investigation. So there's no there there. That was Donald Trump's major distractor. Hey, look over here. You think the Epstein files is that treasure trove, that mine, that mine field, that load, mine load, load mine, there it is, of materials that we're sitting on? No, it's the 70 pages of the grand jury. Judges, look to the judges.

12:20Nobody fell for that. It actually backfired spectacularly in Donald Trump's face as it should.

12:26Michael Popok:What does the Epstein scandal show about the Trump administration? I'll end it this way. It shows, reinforces anyway, the immorality, the depravity, the lack of ethics, the lack of trust that we can repose in this president of the United States whose character demonstrates every moment that he is lawless, that he is unethical, that he is immoral. That's all this demonstrates. and he should have already disqualified himself from sitting in the Oval Office. And hopefully at the midterm election, we will send that message right back to him. I'm Michael Popak. You're on the Midas Touch Network and Legal AF.

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