Legal AF Full Episode - 1/24/2026

27:37Popok:You should know by now I love to cook for my friends. And lately, what's taken my food to that next level is Graza. Graza is my olive oil of choice. extra virgin, single origin, single varietal, super fresh, clean, pure, vibrant, bright, grassy, punchy, and aromatic, all at an affordable everyday price. Graza picks, presses, and bottles their olives in the same season. And you can see the harvest date on every bottle. You can truly taste the difference in quality. It's like no other olive oil on the planet. The smell, the taste, The texture, a full mouth sensory. Wow. Graza has two oils, Sizzle for everyday cooking, roasting, sautéing, everything, and Drizzle, a bold, flavorful finishing oil that's perfect for dipping bread, salads, or even ice cream.

28:27Popok:I'm always hosting dinner parties, so I keep both Sizzle and Drizzle on hand because they're absolutely delicious and look great on the countertop. You'll get 10 % off your first order, but I recommend the Graza Duo. Sizzle for cooking, drizzle for that extra kick of bold flavor. So here you go. Go ahead to Graza.co and use Legal AF to get 10 % off and get to cooking your next chef quality meal. Let's talk candidly about something that no one wants to talk about. What happens when you pass on? Because unfortunately, it's going to happen to you and me. But we can be prepared with Trust and Will online estate planning.

29:08Popok:Estate planning is something many people put off, even when they know it's important. If you're a parent, a homeowner, spouse, or caring for aging parents, it may be time to start thinking about having a plan in place, especially when it comes to decisions like guardianship. Trust and Will makes estate planning easier to approach. Their online platform provides a step-by-step guided process. So even if you don't know where to start or feel overwhelmed by questions, you can create an estate plan in as little as 30 minutes. They also offer optional one-on-one support from attorneys in your state.

29:47Popok:And estate planning isn't just for people with significant assets. Everyone has something to leave behind. Trust in Will believes estate planning should be accessible to everyone, which is why they're committed to making it affordable today and valuable tomorrow. Don't wait until it's too late. Protect your loved ones today, tomorrow and beyond with Trust and Will, the most trusted name in online estate planning. Go to trustandwill.com slash legal AF and get 20 % off. That's trustandwill.com slash legal AF to get your 20 % off. trustandwill.com slash legal AF. Welcome back to Legal AF. Thank you to our sponsors who make the show possible.

30:35The discount codes are in the description below. So this past week, Donald Trump's DOJ engaged in a prosecution of the protesters who were at that St. Paul church, And they prosecuted these protesters under a law called the FACE Act, which really is intended to, for the purpose of prosecuting people who would stand outside of abortion clinics, reproductive health centers, and physically attack and physically block women from going into the clinics and seeking reproductive health services. Now, in the 90s, in order to get this bill passed on a bipartisan basis, there was a provision that basically said, also, the same rules apply in churches to get Republican votes.

31:28And so the idea would be if you physically assaulted somebody from getting into a church or you went into a church and physically threatened somebody the way people have been doing at reproductive health centers, that the same law applies. So there were people who show up at St. Paul, at this church in St. Paul, because allegedly one of the leaders of the church, someone connected with the leadership of the church, was part of ICE and was inflicting this terror and pain on the community. So a protest was held. And Don Lemon, journalist, independent reporter, friend of mine, was at my wedding. I know Don very well.

32:12Great reporter was there. Popak was at my wedding, too. He was hanging out with Don Lemon there.

32:17Popok:Full disclosure. Full disclosure. Popak, Don Lemon, all at my wedding. And Don Lemon was reporting on it. There was one moment where one of the church leaders touched Don Lemon. And Lemon's like, don't touch me. I'm here to ask you questions I don't want touching. And Lemon streamed the whole thing. So there's no ambiguity in what's taking place. The whole thing was videotaped. prosecutors wanted to go after all of them uh they they got they didn't go get an indictment they got a criminal complaint but Popeye against the other protesters they tried against Lemon but the magistrate wouldn't sign off on it um the leader of the protest is someone by the name of Nikima Armstrong she is a former leader of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP she's a civil rights lawyer in her own right.

33:12And she was one of the people who were arrested. And then the Department of Justice manipulated the image of her. Here's the image that Kristi Noem posted, which is still incredibly inappropriate to post this image. There's an image of Kristi Noem posting it. And then the White House account posted an image that they did artificial intelligence on where they made Nakima have darker skin and made her cry and said, arrested, far left agitator, Nakima Levy Armstrong, arrested for orchestrating church riots in Minnesota. That's what the White House did, which will obviously now come into play in her prosecution because she'll talk about vindictive prosecution the same way we've been talking about that with the Abrego Garcia case, where federal courts have found vindictiveness.

34:04Popak, why don't you take it all?

34:06Popok:Yeah, I mean, as I said at a break, at our commercial break, the impeachment proceedings can't start quick enough for me after the Democrats hopefully take back the House and the Senate. So many people will be impeached, much like the Nixon administration for what they're doing. And I see, you know, my crystal ball sees Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche, Emil Bovee hiding out at the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, but once a Donald Trump henchman within the Department of Justice, and Kristi Noem, the press secretary. No one will be safe from the long arm of a impartial Department of Justice and Congress controlled by the Democrats or the long arm and the long reach of history.

34:58Popok:So we're using that as a backdrop. You've got peaceful First Amendment protests. And sometimes in our society, I said this on a video recently, let's just take the 10 amendments, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution known as the Bill of Rights. They don't operate in a silo. They're not pistons that are separated and go up and down like an engine. There are times when there's friction between them and there's collisions between them. Sometimes the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment, there's collisions. Sometimes between the Fourth Amendment and the Fifth Amendment or First Amendment, there's collisions and frictions.

35:34Popok:And that was intended, okay? And it's for federal judges, again, back to our thematic on this show and every show. It's back to federal judges and the people that work for them, like magistrate judges, to sort this out, especially when you have a lawless presidency. So sometimes the right of worship under the First Amendment and freedom of worship against government intrusion or invasion runs up against people who protest your worshiping or somebody in your congregation or whatever was the lead-in to a group of activists deciding to go into this St. Paul community. church, the city's church in St.

36:24Popok:Paul, and protest, and led by people who often get into what we call good trouble, including Nikima Armstrong and William Kelly and Chantile Allen, and Don Lemon accompanied them. He does a lot of live streaming. He does it on Substack. He does it on his YouTube channel, and he was there as a reporter. In fact, he was interviewing people, like parishioners coming out, and one of them in particular, I just use it in my own hot take, One of them said, oh, I was just worshiping, and then you people showed up. And he goes, I'm not you people. I'm just here. I'm reporting on this. You know, I accompanied them, and we've got cameras here as a result.

37:03Well, for the Trump administration, it was a—they are—for a Trump Department of Justice and Civil Rights Division

37:13Popok:that is completely blind to the civil rights violations and deprivations that occurred when Renee Goode was murdered by an ICE agent, and then within a minute of it occurring, already declared that the ICE agent was innocent and had committed only self-defense and there would be no investigation. Now, oh, some sort of protest happens on church grounds, and it's like, whoa, we need to do a civil rights investigation and criminal investigations and arrest all these protesters. So they, as they often do, they went in with what's called a criminal complaint. That is prepared by the prosecutor, but they can't use that to get an arrest warrant.

37:56Popok:They have to go into a federal judge, as we talked about at the top of the show. This is an immigration court, you know, where they get the benefit of their own judge issuing arrest warrants or pieces of paper that look like arrest warrants. They got to go to a federal judge. Now, a criminal complaint is sort of a placeholder until they can get around to having a grand jury of peers if they can indict these people. And they can arrest off a criminal complaint, but it can't be, it can't only be a criminal complaint. It has to be replaced at some point by a real indictment. So, for instance, when Hannah Dugan, the judge in Milwaukee, was arrested for obstructing the use of an I-205 administrative arrest warrant, picking somebody up in her courtroom or near her courtroom, she was first held on a criminal complaint that was eventually endorsed, if you will, by a federal judge.

38:55Popok:An arrest warrant was issued. Then it was replaced by a grand jury indictment. And of course, she got convicted of a couple of things in court. Here, that's how a criminal complaint works. So they got a criminal complaint against a couple of these people. We just talked about the ones that were arrested, including Nekima Armstrong. And no, the Department of Justice is supposed to be neutral as the people's prosecutor, and they're not supposed to be posting AI ginned up photos, racially charged photos of the people who are innocent until proven guilty. And this Department of Justice as a weapon, as a tool of Donald Trump on full display once again with yet another perp walk photo, which will come up to the judge eventually if this indictment, a future indictment sticks about a jury selection process and prejudice and bias.

39:54Popok:But so they were arrested. Subsequently, a federal judge found that most of them should not be held without bail and release them to their own recognizance or after a bond or bail hearing. Pam Bondi did not like that the magistrate judge and then the federal judge would not sign off on the criminal complaint for Don Lemon. Don Lemon, a journalist, a First Amendment chronicler of what was happening during the protest, not a riot at the church, a protest at the church. Okay. I never saw people come out of a riot and calmly be interviewed by a reporter, which is what you can see in clip after clip after clip of Don Lemon's reporting.

40:44Popok:So, of course, the magistrate judge and ultimately the federal judge was like, no, there's a little thing called the First Amendment. This is journalism. This isn't protest. You may not like it, but this is no different than if a journalist had been on the Pettit Bridge in Selma, Alabama, you know, while peaceful protesters were being beaten to within an inch of their life, you know, by the Alabama local police who were trying to peacefully march about other people. the civil rights movement. If Don Lemon had been there with technology at the time, with his pad, he doesn't get arrested because he's chronicling what's happening under the First Amendment and freedom of the press.

41:27Popok:So Pam Bonney didn't like that. So rather than put on her big girl pants and go get an indictment, if you think you can get it from a Minnesota grand jury or St. Paul grand jury, she went instead to try to, in this theatrical move, go to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to try to get a writ of mandamus, which is an order for a federal officer or officer to do something that they're not doing. Except this isn't like, you know, a ministerial act like, sign the document. This is a magistrate judge using their powers to determine under their abuse of discretion standard, whether the government has met a burden or not on probable cause and finding that they hadn't.

42:15Popok:She didn't like it, ran to the Eighth Circuit. The Eighth Circuit slammed her in a newly released, there it is, the government here, look at the language from the Eighth Circuit, chief judge, the government lumps all eight protesters together and say things that are true of some, but not all of them. Two of the five were not even protesters. They were journalists. That's Don Lemon and his producer. There's no evidence that these two engaged in any criminal behavior or conspired to do so. And so, no, we're not going to force the magistrate judge based on your skimpy, scant evidence in violation of the First Amendment that didn't make it.

42:53Popok:Now, what can she do? She can go try to impaddle if it's not up up and running already with Lord knows who, because the U.S. attorney walked out 10 days ago, along with all the leadership in Minnesota, whoever she can find there to go and panel another grand jury to get Don Lemon indicted. I'm not suggesting that should happen or will happen, but that's what she would have to do next if she doesn't like what's just happened with the criminal complaint process. Don Lemon has great counsel, somebody that you and I talked about so many times that you think he's part of the show. Abby Lowell. Abby Lowell is representing Lisa Cook, the board of governors of the Federal Reserves, representing Letitia James, the New York Attorney General, and many other people who have gotten on Donald Trump's vindictive prosecution and retribution list.

43:41Popok:One of the handful of lawyers and law firms that are standing up every day against the Trump administration and making it their practice area of representing people who are targeted by the Trump administration. So, you know, he's in great hands. I'm sure Abby's ready and local council's ready to whatever happens next as he continues to do his job as a journalist. Yeah. You know, and then, of course, Donald Trump making it so much worse today after the horrific shooting of the individual who, by all accounts and based on all the information we now know, had the right to conceal carry, had the right to carry a firearm as a result of the Second Amendment, right?

44:30That's what we've always have heard in the state of Minnesota, absolute right to have a gun holstered where the gun was holstered. And by all accounts, what it looks like it happened, these eight border patrol thugs started pepper spraying the guy, kicking him, beating him, took the gun out of the holster aggressively, threw the guy to the ground, started beating him and then shot him repeatedly, 10 times, maybe more, shot, shot, shot, shot, shot, when that individual had every right to be doing what he was doing. And then you get a statement out from the Trump regime. And the statement that Donald Trump posted earlier today is this is the gunman's gun loaded with two additional full magazines and ready to go.

45:28What is that all about? Where are the local police? Why aren't they allowed to protect ICE officers? The mayor and the governor called them off. It is stated that many of these police were not allowed to do their job, that ICE had to protect themselves. Not an easy thing to do. Why does Ilhan Omar have$34 million in her account? And where are the tens of billions of dollars that have been stolen from the once great state of Minnesota? We are there because of massive monetary fraud with billions of dollars missing and illegal criminals allowed to infiltrate the state through Democrats' open border policies.

46:09We want our money back and we our money back now. Those fraudsters who stole the money are going to jail. The mayor and the governor are inciting.

46:19Popok:And we're going to shoot and kill people who are American. The mayor and the governor are inciting insurrection with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric. Let our ICE patriots do their job. 12 ,000 illegal alien criminals have been arrested and taken out of Minnesota. If they were still there, you would be witnessing much worse than what you're witnessing today. Then he posts again, among other things, this is a cover-up for the billions of dollars that have been stolen from the once great state, but soon to be great again in Minnesota. I mean, look, Donald Trump has invaded American cities, American towns, American states, an invasion with a paramilitary force.

47:07I would say no different than what you see in Putin's Russia or in Iran or in other authoritarian regimes, but frankly, it may be worse what you're seeing. It's at that level for sure, but America is under attack by a psychotic madman who wakes up and goes, I'm going to tariff Canada today because I don't like Canada today. And I'm going to call Carney the governor. And I'm going to go after Greenland and just start posting photographs of me walking with penguins taking over Greenland. Aren't I funny? No, you're a psychotic, madman, criminal felon. You were found civilly liable for sexual abuse.

47:52You are a disgusting piece of trash. And we all should just be outraged about Trump and this entire regime. And when he goes, what's that all about? It's about the Second Amendment, the thing that you've weaponized and used for political tools in ways that actually have led to massive school shootings taking place where our children and parents are afraid to send their kids to schools because you say that anybody can basically have these semi-automatic weapons by schools, that's what the Second Amendment says. But really, when someone is actually with a concealed carry, has the weapon how they're supposed to have it, then you send your Gestapo to pepper spray him and kill him.

48:42That's how they use it. But that's how they use everything, right? They use the Second Amendment to allow school shootings and prevent the Second Amendment how it's supposed to be used, right? Think about any topic that they do. Yeah, their states' rights when it comes to violations of the constitutions, but then they'll send the federal government to trample and tread on states and take it over and totally ignore the 10th Amendment. They'll say, oh, we're for the First Amendment. We're absolutists because they want to use the First Amendment to incite insurrections. But then when people invoke the First Amendment to peacefully protest, this regime goes, oh, you are a bunch of domestic terrorists.

49:25Their words are not just meaningless. Their words are the words of authoritarians who want absolute power and to rip apart our democracy. Stop using language that these are normal political times. They are not. When we come back, I want to talk about Lisa Cook's oral argument before the Supreme Court, Jack Smith's testimony as well. Because when you look at what's taking place even at the Supreme Court and what's taking place in Congress and what's actually happening on the streets of our country, I mean, you can see that we're not in a constitutional crisis. We are well past that constitutional crisis.

50:11There's an authoritarian regime right now that's ripped apart the Constitution, and the question becomes, what are we going to do about that? How are we going to stand up for our rights? Reminder, subscribe to the Legal AF Substack and Legal AF YouTube channel by Michael Popak. He's got a lot of other great contributors as well. Make sure you subscribe there. In addition, if you or somebody you know has been injured in a car accident, trucking accident, injured by the negligence of a third party or corporation or somebody, if you know someone who's the victim in a wrongful death case and you're speaking with their families, do the same thing.

50:51Text 877-POPOC-AF or call 877-POPOC-AF or go to thepopocfirm.com. They've got lawyers across the country available 24-7 fighting for you. The consultation is free, and we'll put that in the description below as well. We'll be right back after a quick break.

51:09Popok:Magic Spoon is basically the grown-up version of your favorite childhood cereal. All the fun, nostalgic taste without the sugar bomb. It's a wholesome, high-quality, high-protein, zero-sugar cereal that still hits that Saturday morning vibe. Each serving has 13 grams of protein, 5 grams of net carbs, and 0 grams of sugar. So it's super fueling any time of the day and great for anyone who's carb-conscious. They've got classic flavors like fruity, frosted, hot chocolate, and cinnamon toast. They're also launching new flavors in January this month that lean hard into childhood nostalgia. Classic Marshmallow, reminiscent of a certain childhood favorite enjoyed by all.

51:53Popok:And S'mores, the ultimate campfire-inspired cereal. Both include real marshmallows and just two grams of sugar. Plus, Magic Spoon Treats are crispy, airy snack bars with 12 grams of protein and their granola packs, 13 grams of protein with zero added sugar. Perfect anytime. Look for Magic Spoon on Amazon or at your nearest grocery store or get$5 off your next order at magicspoon.com slash legal AF. That's magicspoon.com slash legal AF for$5 off. I am so over the whole new year, new me thing. Short-term fads don't deliver long-term results. Science does, especially when it comes to skincare. That's why I use OneSkin.

52:42Popok:Their formulas are powered by the OS1 peptide, a patented peptide built on longevity science proven to target aging at the cellular level. It's not about adding extra steps to your routine. It's about swapping in smarter ones. I've been using OS1 Body for a few months now, and I've really noticed how much smoother and healthier my skin feels overall. One Skin is known for cult favorite formulas like OS1 Body, OS1 Face, and OS1 Eye, all built on a science-first approach to aging that's validated in five separate clinical studies. Born from over 10 years of longevity research, One Skin's OS1 peptide is proven to target the cells that cause the visible signs of aging, helping you unlock your healthiest skin now and as you age.

53:30Popok:And for a limited time, One Skin is making it even easier to stay consistent with up to 30 % off your first three subscription orders when you use code LEGALAF at oneskin.co slash LEGALAF. That's up to 30 % off with code LEGALAF. After you purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them that we sent you. Again, that's up to 30 % off with code Legal AF at oneskin.co slash Legal AF. Welcome back to Legal AF. Thank you to our pro-democracy sponsors. You know, as I take a step back and try to cool off a little bit after that commercial break. You know, there are so many of these episodes, Popak, where I know we're living in a history that I so hope one day, you know, as I see my little girl and you and I talk about our little girls all the time, I so hope that this is a moment in history that we're able to stop.

54:36and we built this network, we built this show, we built out other people's platforms. We've inspired other independent journalists to start doing this type of work when we saw corporate news capitulating to be useful using our legal skills and background and professional experiences during this time. And just by way of reference, in terms of my background here, for a number of years, I was basically living in Bakersfield in Fresno at the Truxton Marriott when Bakersfield Police Department had the highest police shooting deaths per capita anywhere in the country. And they had police officers who were dealing the drugs on the street and killing their own confidential informants like Jorge Ramirez, whose family I represented, and then blaming the informants and claiming the informants were actually trying to kill the police officers.

55:33and we uncovered that there was a massive drug operation within Bakersfield Police Department. They were selling the drugs on the street, keeping informants off the book, cutting dirty deals, and you had a very traumatized community. It's not to suggest that it's gotten much better now, but they've had to have massive reforms as a result of a lot of the work we did there. And then having represented Colin Kaepernick, who peacefully protested and who lost his career after peacefully protesting, oftentimes I would hear people say, well, why does he have to do that protest at the stadium? We just want to watch football.

56:16Why do these protesters have to do the protests in the church? The whole point of protests is that it makes us feel uncomfortable. It is a protest. That is the point of protest. It is about making people feel uncomfortable because if you feel uncomfortable during that protest, you should reflect on how the individual who was just killed felt. They're dead. You should reflect on what it must feel like to be someone who's black or brown, who's being racially profiled and targeted when they leave their house. So yeah, the protest makes you feel uncomfortable having ICE and Border Patrol, Gestapo, or terroristic thug feds going after people who are not actually carrying out law and order, who are actually attacking also police from doing good functioning.

57:15Yeah, that's what makes people uncomfortable. So that's the nature of our country, the very nature of our country. When we think about Martin Luther King and reflecting on Martin Luther King Jr. Day earlier this week, and we reflect on a history of protest, that's what actually our country is about. So when I watch these videos and I see ICE and Border Patrol Gestapo throwing gas at people and attacking people for protesting. And by the way, you go, well, why do they have to yell at the get out ICE, F-U ICE? That's exactly within your First Amendment right. Would I go out there and throw F-bombs around?

57:55And that's not my style of protest. I don't like to curse on this show. I don't like cursing in general. That's not how, but we have a First Amendment saying F ICE, F you, get out of my town, F you, F you. I understand why people who are being tortured and terrorized would be saying that. That doesn't give ICE and Border Patrol the right to start gassing and attacking people and beating people and killing people. What are we talking about here? This is our constitution, and I just want us all to reflect on that. Now I want to toss it over to you, Popak. What we should talk about is two things.

58:32Number one, Supreme Court oral argument, Lisa Cook, Lisa Cook, Governor, Federal Reserve Board of Governors. You can talk about a little bit of the procedural history of how it got there. Notably, to me, it was Justice Kavanaugh's questioning, but some other right-wing justices as well who had this uh-oh moment where they're like, but Donald, to Judge Trump's Solicitor General, if we do this for you, doesn't that mean that everybody else can then do this when there's a Democrat in office? So aren't we opening up the floodgates for the future? And then talk about special counsel Jack Smith's testimony.

59:09And I think the Supreme Court was also channeling this. Donald Trump's attempt to unlawfully gerrymander the country and do this mid-decade redistricting, and he started in Texas. They didn't do it by way of referendum, just have the legislatures give five seats. Well, in California, they did it by referendum. The people of California voted. California picked up five seats. And then when Democrats asserted themselves across the country, based on the latest data, it seems that the Democrats may have won the mid-decade redistricting. So Trump's gerrymandering may actually be dummymandering. And Trump's gerrymandering, even in Texas, may result in losing seats in Texas, not just in addition to the net gains of Democrats-like leaders, courageous Democratic leaders in Virginia's Senate and House, and now the fact that they have the trifecta with Spanberger becoming Governor Spanberger in Virginia, there could be pickups there.

1:00:06And it's possible now they lose seats in Texas as well. So I think what Kavanaugh's almost channeling there, Popak, as you take these two topics together, Supreme Court and Jack Smith was like, you're not foreseeing the end consequences of all of this as well. The same way I think people were warning Trump about the gerrymandering, but Trump, I guess, thought that Democrats would not assert themselves and show their formal and moral authority. What do you make of it?

1:00:36Popok:All right, let's start at the United States Supreme Court. I think I'll gloss over the tit for tat and the tick tock of the oral argument because for me, the more important thing was the next decision that the Supreme Court's going to make on tariffs. And I think the writing is on the wall that Donald Trump is likely in the throes of an epic, historic set of losses at the Supreme Court. I'm glad we're finally able to do that. He's going to lose on the Lisa Cook lack of due process, lack of for cause, lack of proper record developed by the trial court below issue that was before the United States Supreme Court.

1:01:21Popok:As I had predicted before, at the time of the election, when John Sauer was chosen to be Donald Trump's Solicitor General, that his well-worn schtick would wear out and that he would eventually wear on the nerves of even the ultra-right wing on the Supreme Court with his hyperbolic, hyperactive, just this voluble, constant, prolix, you know, 50 pounds of argument in a 10-pound sack approach to everything. He knows and thinks he's the smartest guy in the room. He's got some sort of weird photographic memory about cases. He never capitulates. He never concedes, even when his credibility is at stake.

1:02:16Popok:And he's gotten on the wrong side of a number of judges in the half a dozen oral arguments that he's made. Because what once was an interesting advocacy style when he was doing the immunity oral argument and the Colorado insurrectionist ballot case to help Donald Trump stay on the ballot and get presidential immunity for all the crimes that he committed that Jack Smith was pursuing sort of has grown tiresome. And so what we heard during the oral argument was that he's completely lost, at least for that case, any credibility. I mean, Sam Alito, if you don't have Sam Alito for Donald Trump, you're about done.

1:03:03Popok:When Sam Alito said, why did everybody rush here so quickly? Why is there not a properly developed record on this issue about the firing of a board of governor, Dr. Lisa Cook, on the Federal Reserve? Is there even in the record her actual mortgage documents that are allegedly the basis for the four cause that Donald Trump used to fire her? And then you heard John Sauer have to scramble and say, Well, I think the snapshot of the picture of the tweet and the social media post from, and I'm like, are you kidding me? The snapshot of the photo of the social media post, that's not evidence. That's not the record.

1:03:50Popok:So here's what's going to happen. It's either going to be 8-1, 9-0, or 7-2. But Donald Trump's losing. Kavanaugh's not going to vote with him. Gorsuch isn't. Amy Coney Barrett's not. I'll mention something about Amy Coney Barrett and the tariffs in a moment. Roberts is not going to. I don't think Alito is. And the only one that was sort of, you couldn't figure out, as always, is Clarence Thomas. But he'll either see the writing on the wall and decide he better go 9-0 on this one. Because the only issue really before them was, was there, is due process something that has to be given to somebody on the board of governors?

1:04:28Popok:And what does that due process look like? Kind of hearing, who decides? See, for the Trump administration, it's always, you can't review anything the president does. He decides on if there's four cause. It can't be challenged. At one point, John Roberts was like, why are we even here? Based on that argument, you're telling me I don't have the power on the Supreme Court to reinstate or to take in or out an officer that's fired by the presidency? See, this is just the ludicrously of John Sauer taken to its extreme. It's another version of the could SEAL Team 6 be ordered to take out a political rival by the president and have that be okay under immunity.

1:05:10Popok:And rather than saying no, that would be, well, under that scenario, it's never been litigated before. Like, oh, my God. So they're going to send it back to Gia Cobb, who's the Biden-appointed federal judge who handled the case below. And they're going to give her instructions. They're going to say she gets due process, Lisa Cook, because it's a Fifth Amendment right and she's looking at 13 more years left on her term. And no. So you're going to have to give her due process. And you're going to have to figure out what that should look like. Give her a hearing. Let there be evidence. Let there be testimony.

1:05:49Popok:Figure that out. Then you determine whether there's four calls, whether the president's assertion that this mortgage fraud, not fraud thing about her having two loans, both primary, or both declaring first that they're her primary residence in Michigan and Atlanta is the type of fraud that we would expect to lead to her dismissal. not the president gets to pick anything he wants. I want to like the color of your tie, Jay Powell, you get to go. So they're going to send it back. And she's going to stay in her chair in the meantime, because the issue that was up on the appeal was a narrow one about whether they were going to grant Donald Trump a stay to block the appellate court, two to one decision that kept her in her chair.

1:06:40Popok:And they're like, they're going to let her be in there. So they're going to let Lisa Cook stay in her seat and Trump fight to get her out as opposed to Lisa Cook out and fighting to get back in, which is good because it'll at least keep the Federal Reserve independent and in the control of non-Trump appointees from now until Jay Powell steps off in 2028, not when he steps off in May as the chair. But for me, I was looking for tea leaves about the tariff decision, which would be sort of one of the final nails Donald Trump's coffin with the American people. If he has to, if all the tariffs that he's been using to troll Americans and tax them and troll our allies and enemies and troll the middle powers as Prime Minister Carney calls them, which is Canada and Europe, with, oh, I don't like what you did.

1:07:35Popok:You embarrassed me in Davos, Prime Minister Carney. So I'm going to put a 200 % tariff on everything Canadian or 100 % or 200 % on French wine because I didn't like Macron and what he said. And this is the very reason you take this toy away from this toddler because he doesn't have it constitutionally nor by statute. So at one point, Amy Coney Barrett said to John Sauer, look, we got a lot of briefs here from economists, former Federal Reserve governors, central bankers, and they're all saying it'll be a disaster it'll be a recession it'll be a economic catastrophe if the independence of the federal reserve um is compromised by donald trump firing lisa cook and then of course john sour said well if you look at the record you know the stock market went up two days in a row and all outside the record by the way and she stopped him she says you know i'm not an economist i'm just a judge.

1:08:37Popok:And for me, I think tying that back together again to Amy Coney Barrett in the tariff hearing, saying to the lawyer advocating for the defeat of the tariffs, saying, suppose we rule in your favor, how hard would it be to refund? I think Amy Coney Barrett, which with Kavanaugh often is in the majority, it's becoming like this Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett thing in terms of majority opinions, whether we like them or not. I think they're going to get this gang back together, not 8-1, not 7-2. But I see at least now a 6-3, maybe 5-4 against the tariffs. That may not come out until June. Now, some people are waiting and they're biting their nails every time there's an announcement of a new Supreme Court decision being dropped.

1:09:28Popok:Like, oh, is it today? No, it's not going to be anytime soon. They don't do major decisions. Occasionally, they do major decisions, you know, like TikTok ban, which we're not talking about today. You know, 27 days after the hearing, they issued their decision. But in major decisions, they normally wait because of how complex these decisions are to write and the concurrences and the dissents. And everything holds it up. So it's really like a March, April, May, June event. And for people that thought, well, but look at all the money that's piling up. That must weigh on their minds. You can see from Amy Coney Barrett saying, I'm not an economist.

1:10:06Popok:I'm just a judge. They don't care whether Donald Trump has to repay$150 billion or$300 billion. They don't care that it's running. If they find that he illegally did it and it has to be paid back, they figure the government can figure out how to pay back$300 billion back to the importers and businesses. But the problem is they're not going to pay that money back to the Americans who have already been taxed along the way. It's not going to them. It's going to the companies. And unless the companies are like, hey, everybody, 20 % off all our goods for the next six months because we got our refund.

1:10:40Popok:Not happening. So the people that got screwed and crushed once again were the American people. So you have that going on. And it doesn't make up. I don't want people to think, because we're going to get a couple of rulings probably against the Trump administration on major issues, that it makes up for – it doesn't make up for anything. It doesn't make up for all the ways from the immunity decision to the taking away of all men's right to choose to constitutional civil rights being destroyed to the relationship between the presidency and the other two branches being completely upended. It doesn't change any of that, but we're going to call it like we see it about things that will be good for us and that the tariffs will be destroyed likely before the midterms.

1:11:21Popok:And his attempt to take over the independence of the Federal Reserve, which isn't just an esoteric theory or an esoteric academic thing. Oh, that's interesting. He took over the Federal Reserve. He takes over the Federal Reserve. He takes over the Open Markets Committee. He takes over interest rates. Then whatever you're paying now at the supermarket, double it. Because when he lowers interest rates to 1 % and floods the market with a fire hose of free money, all that's going to happen, as even his own people have said out loud, is hyper, hyper, hyper inflation, right? It'll be a short-term drug that he tries to inject into the arm of the American people before the midterms.

1:12:03Popok:Look what I did. You can borrow money now cheaper. To a long-term disaster, they'll leave behind the smoking carnage and carcass of America's economy in his wake. And that's what we're trying so hard to avoid. Another, by the way, Abby Lowell special with representing Lisa Cook in that case. Then we contrast that. That's why it's been a terrible week for Donald Trump. Comes home a shrunken, defeated, broken man as Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada and the Europeans take Donald Trump like a baseball bat and break him over their knee. Is that what, that's what happened. Comes back defeated and deflated to what?

1:12:43Popok:To Americans being shot on the streets of Minnesota, to federal judges opposing him on a regular basis. and now you've got his big ballroom, which we're just going to touch on. The ballroom looks like it's in jeopardy because a federal judge is like, no, I'm not going to allow you to continue to build the ballroom without congressional approval. You run Congress, go get the approval. He's got all that going on. But then Jack Smith is back. And we all saw the reasons that we loved knowing that Jack Smith was the people's prosecutor. dispassionate, independent, impartial, apolitical, just against all odds, against his own, his own, I mean, attacks on him while the hearing was going on from within the White House, calling him deranged, saying he should be in jail, saying, you know, he expects to be prosecuted as a result, but reminding the American people that Donald Trump should be a convicted felon and that he committed crimes beyond a reasonable doubt.

1:13:46Popok:And that shows the power of our government in the proper hands, in this case, the Democrats, doing their thing. And the one takeaway from the Jack Smith presentation that I'll leave this segment on is that at no time, and you can watch all seven hours of it, you got it up on Midas, we have it up on Legal AF, you can watch it cover to cover. And you never hear the Republicans, never hear the Republicans defend Donald Trump, prove with evidence that he did not commit the crimes for which he was prosecuted, indicted, ever. It's always about the tactics and strategy that Jack Smith used. It's always about, oh, you're wiretapped.

1:14:32Popok:Oh, why did you do, you were, and then just talking points, just leading questions that they didn't care about the answer so that it would make the evening news about, you're just going after the enemies of Joe Biden, weren't you? No. Just ridiculous questions that had no, when he responded, they didn't care about the response. They just wanted the theatrics of the moment, but at no time did they defend Donald Trump or what he did on Jan 6th and beyond, nor could they. and yet you're left with Jack Smith talking to the American people. At the same time, we've got, because Donald Trump wants to distract from what's happening poorly for him this week, he got that lawsuit filed against Jamie Dimon.

1:15:20Popok:We have a hot take up on that. And JPMorgan Chase, because he got debanked. He got debanked because he's a fraudster, because he was a judge to be a fraudster, because he got 55 or 60 indictments against him because he had his companies get a criminal conviction that was never expunged in New York. That's why he got debanked. And he had an$8 million loan through a Russian connection with a bank offshore into Truth Social that nobody knows why or how it happened. That's why you get debanked. But that happened. And then he runs down Judge Cannon, while he still got Cannon, to argue that she should issue an injunction against the future Department of Justice, not even now's Department of Justice, the future one, permanently enjoining them from ever releasing the Mar-a-Lago report.

1:16:16Popok:It'll be the first time in history that a special counsel or special prosecutor or independent prosecutor's body of work was not given to the American people, either both through testimony and through the release of the report. It would be the first time in history And now he's trying to get a judge now because he's got the numbers to try to bind a future Department of Justice from ever releasing that Mar-a-Lago report because he doesn't want the American people to know what he did in obstruction of justice, in espionage act at all. And so he filed, and I'll just leave it at this, he filed it.

1:16:54Popok:Talk about this unethical, unholy, revolving door. The woman he used to send a note to Aileen Cannon had just been in his Department of Justice as an assistant deputy attorney general working with Todd Blanche. Before that, she was working with Todd Blanche and Emil Bovey as Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago lawyers down in Florida. She then went into the government as an ethics counsel and responsible for things like the inspectors general. Then she came back out and is now back representing Donald Trump criminally. And then you had this pitch and catch where she filed a note to Judge Cannon asking her not to ever release the Mar-a-Lago report and make sure no other Department of Justice in history ever does.

1:17:39Popok:And two days later, Donald Trump's Department of Justice says, yeah, we agree with that. It should be in the dustbin of history. Nobody should ever see this. And there's nobody on the other side to oppose it because the judge is keeping out the interveners who would be the only ones to have a contrary view, like First Amendment groups like the Knight Institute and American Oversight. This is all heading back to the 11th Circuit about whether she can permanently block the release of and issue that order and have the power. One last thing. We watched Epstein judges with much heartbreak or bittersweet approach tell the survivors that they don't have the power in these closed criminal cases to issue orders to force the Epstein files to be released through a special master or independent monitor.

1:18:33Popok:We just had Judge Berman literally post in his docket a note, a handwritten note on his stationery to one of the survivors saying, I appreciate you writing to me. It was very moving. I don't have the power. The case is closed. Judge Engelmeyer did it with an order, which he cited to one of my clients, Lisa Phillips. Judge Cannon, she got a closed criminal case. She got no problem. She's open for business. Oh, Donald Trump, why don't you file something? Department of Justice under Donald Trump, why don't you file something? And no, we can't hear from anybody else, but I'm open for business on these rulings about why aren't you closed?

1:19:12Popok:Why isn't your case closed since the defendants have been dismissed and so has Donald Trump? No, because we're in the world, the upside down world of Aileen Cannon. So now you and I have to follow what's going to happen next at the 11th Circuit. How did I do it? I tie all that together? You tied it all together brilliantly. And look, the point you make also is that our system probably needs to be rethought at a completely entire holistic level, because it's built on the fact that the DOJ and the prosecutors and the Department of Justice are the good guys and that the criminal defendants who are presumed innocent until proven guilty, though, are on the other side of it and that there is an adversarial nature of the relationship.

1:20:02But what happens when that line between prosecutor and criminal defendant is removed and you basically are now playing for the same team? What happens when you have a basketball game, for example, and the teams are not going against each other, but they're all shooting at the same hoop? At some point, the audience is like, why am I watching this? What is this? Aren't you supposed to like play against each other? And I'm giving a crude, broader example. But we see this problem now playing out where there's a structural flaw in our system, where the prosecution is the criminal bad guy. When they are the criminals, what do you do?

1:20:41Because as Judge Berman and as Judge Engelmeyer have recognized, we appreciate people trying to intervene. but we kind of depend on the Justice Department and a party making the motion and asking us to do something. And no one from the outside can ask us to do it. So what can we do when the only people who have standing is the DOJ and is the criminal defendant in a case? Similarly, when you talk about with Judge Cannon, though, what do you do when you have Trump's DOJ, the prosecutors, working with Trump, the criminal defendant, and representing those interests against the former prosecutor, special counsel Jack Smith, and that there's no adversarial voice on the docket.

1:21:39So it now becomes a unanimous request to the judge, like a stipulation. And the judge is like, well, I guess all I have here is people telling me here's how I got to do it. So I guess I have to follow what the Justice Department's doing. Our founders didn't think about this. And our lawmakers didn't address this situation. And currently, our sycophantic, supine Congress is incapable of dealing with it. As I've said, we're not in a constitutional crisis. We're past the constitutional crisis. We are in Putin's Russia, Orbán's Hungary, MBS's Saudi Arabia, the Ayatollah's Iran, Delcy Rodriguez's Venezuela.

1:22:24That's what exists now in the United States. And I'm not being hyperbolic and I'm sick and tired of people who want to use all this other language to try to normalize, sane-wash what's happening right now. There's no giving ICE better training. They're a terrorist organization. You need to take away their funding. You need to shut them down. Border Patrol, border. They're not supposed to be in the interior. The hell are they doing? Stop funding this stuff. Defund them. Abolish them. You want to have them do what they were supposed to do originally, which is actually deal with the border and ICE deals with immigration enforcement?

1:23:04They ain't doing that. That's not what they're doing right now. They're Gestapo. They're SS. They're terrorizing this country. So I'm sick and tired of anyone, regardless of their political party. Well, shut up. It's not what we're dealing with right now. These are existential times. You either meet the moment or get the hell out of the way. That's the times we're living in right now. Thank you, everybody, for watching. Hit subscribe. Help us get to 6 million subscribers here. More importantly, help the Legal AF channel get to 2 million subscribers. Subscribe to Legal AF on YouTube. Subscribe to Legal AF on Substack.

1:23:42Support the growth of Legal AF. Legal AF is, as you know right now, so critical, and its importance is only going to get more critical over the coming days, weeks, months, and years. Let's get Legal AF to 10 million subscribers by 2028. Also, make sure if you or someone you know has been injured in a car accident, trucking accident, injured by the negligence of somebody else, if you know someone who's the victim in a wrongful death case or somebody else who may have a legal case, and they say, You know any lawyers? Call Popak, 877-POPAK-AF or text Popak, 877-POPAK-AF or go to thepopakfirm.com, thepopakfirm.com.

1:24:25Consultation is free with the Popak firm. He's got lawyers in every state across the country here to help you out. So see if you have a case, reach out. Don't be shy. Popak's representing hundreds, like a huge amount of people who watch and listen are now clients of the Popak firm who have cases or who have referred a family member, a cousin, a friend, a neighbor. Hey, you have a case? I know Michael Popak. Give Popak's firm a call. Seriously, don't be shy about it. This is what the firm was built to do. Thanks everybody for watching. We appreciate you. We're grateful for you. I know these are difficult times, but we're going to keep fighting for you.

1:25:03Hang in there. We're in this together, okay? Shout out Midas Mighty. Shout out Legal AFers.

1:25:24Thank you.

1:25:45Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same premium wireless for$15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three-month plan, equivalent to$15 per month required. Intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See full terms at mintmobile.com. Jackson Hewitt has a great tax prep deal.

1:26:18$149 or less. Missing out is like ignoring the check engine light in your car. You regret it. Seriously, the price is only$149 or less, no matter how complicated. So don't wait. Like when you get a password expires today alert, or you're shopping online and there's only one item left. It's like your taxes are in the cart. Just complete the purchase. Hurry. This deal for$149 or less is like your phone at 1%. It's about to power down.

1:26:45You know what's wild? Most people are still overpaying for car insurance just because it's a pain to switch. That's why there's Jerry. Jerry's the only app that compares rates from over 50 insurers in minutes and helps you switch fast with no spam calls or hidden fees. Drivers who save with Jerry could save over$1 ,300 a year. Before you renew your car insurance policy, do yourself a favor. Download the Jerry app or head to jerry.ai slash Libsyn. That's J-E-R-R-Y dot A-I slash L-I-B-S-Y-N. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile, with a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop.

1:27:28With Mint, you can get premium wireless for just$15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments, but that's weird. Okay, one judgment. Anyway, give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch.