Legal AF Full Episode - 11/1/2025

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29:29Michael Popok:That's TryMiracle.com slash Legal AF, code Legal AF at checkout. Thanks to Miracle Made for sponsoring this episode. Welcome back to Legal AF. Michael Popak, a lot of activity with the Supreme Court. There's the tariff case that's going before the United States Supreme Court this week, Trump's tariffs against the world. You'll recall that the lower federal trade court, because that's who has exclusive jurisdiction over these tariffs, especially tariffs against the world, ruled against Donald Trump, but that was stayed until it went to the Court of Appeals over these trade issues. The Court of Appeals ruled against Donald Trump as well.

30:08And then it went to the United States Supreme Court. I think this process moved way too slowly because Trump's disastrous tariffs, frankly, even if the Supreme Court strikes it down, has done its damage. It's created the painful uncertainty in communities. It's caused inflation to surge. And I think it just goes to show you that there's a lot of issues and problems in our legal system that something like this could take so long before it could be ruled on, that you could engage in such blatant and lawful behavior for all these months and almost a year. And then the Supreme Court's like, oh, we'll take our time on that.

30:45But, you know, when it comes to some of these other issues, we're going to stop what the district court's doing and just inflict all the suffering on the American people. But we don't know what this right wing Supreme Court's going to do. You know, you would expect this right wing Supreme Court based on following the law and also what previous right-wing views were on tariffs generally in free trade to strike these tariffs down. But who knows? They're all kind of co-opted by MAGA. But then also, Popak, we saw the United States Supreme Court make an interesting ruling requesting additional information on the National Guard invasions of blue states and blue cities.

31:25They didn't take any action other than to say, we want more briefing on this issue that really wasn't discussed in prior analysis. So, Popak, why don't you take it from there? Big week in the Supreme Court.

31:37Michael Popok:Absolutely. And we'll be live streaming on Legal AF, the November 5th tariff argument. We're going to know right away. Let's start with tariffs, then I'll go back to the National Guard and things that are going on there. We're going to know pretty quickly from this United States Supreme Court and the MAGA-6 whether Donald Trump's on-life support tariffs or not, having already been rejected by an en banc full panel of the Federal Circuit Appellate Court and the Court of International Trade, we're going to know pretty quickly which way they're going. I'll tell you which way they should go. And I'm talking about the alt-right of the Supreme Court.

32:17Michael Popok:They should quickly go to a finding about what's called the major questions doctrine, which was a made up doctrine in the Roberts, the Roberts court a number of years ago, in order for the Supreme Court to find a way to reject overreach, what they see as overreach by an executive applying certain statutory provisions in a way that they think, no, we got to get clear direction from Congress on that one. So no, Joe Biden, you can't use the Small Business Administration or the educational statutes to forgive student loans because we think that's going too far and we need a clear direction, clear message from the Congress because that's a major question that they should actually pass a law about, not just you interpreting a statute.

33:07Michael Popok:All right. We were like, we don't agree with that, but we sort of understood it. Well, now you got Donald Trump, the entire foundation for his 138 or whatever it is, tariffs against countries, reciprocal tariffs, okay, is based on one statute. There's other ways that a president can impose tariffs, but you have to go through the steps, including involving Congress in them. But if you're going to use the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, IEPA, then there has to be an emergency and you have to use that economic power in that emergency that Congress has given you. Nowhere in IEPA, as pointed out eloquently by the federal circuit in their decision, is there the word tariff, the president gets to tariff.

33:58Michael Popok:Let me give an example. You mentioned the trolling by Ontario of the Reagan speech from 1987. Let me contrast that with what Donald Trump did. In 87, Reagan, who was a free trader, was not in favor of tariffs. In fact, no president, back to the 1930s, is in favor of high tariffs. The last time we did that, we were in the Depression, or we led into the Depression. Reagan, free trader, he gives a speech because in 1987, there was an emergency. The American chip manufacturing industry, led at the time by Intel, was under attack by Japan, who had cheap chips, cheap computer chips, that they were dumping onto the American market, threatening to put American chip makers out of business.

34:49Michael Popok:You know, history is prologue, right? Now we have NVIDIA, Intel's on the balls of its ass, but I think we own 15 % of Intel now under Donald Trump. But then they were worried about that. So IEPA and things like it allowed under that emergency, and time being of the essence, didn't require a president to go back to Congress and try to lobby and get the votes. Oh, my God, we got to pay back Japan. This is happening now in real time. I'm going to do effectively a temporary sanction or tariff in order to protect the American chip industry. And that was upheld because that was an emergency. It was a one-off.

35:29Michael Popok:And Reagan was a free trader who didn't really want to do it and gave that now famous speech in which he said it's unpatriotic to tariff and destroy global trade, which Donald Trump hates. Fast forward Donald Trump in the Rose Garden or whatever's left of it now in April when he announces 138 reciprocal tariffs because there's been a 10-year creeping emergency called the trade deficit. Like what? Howard Lutnick, Commerce Secretary, come up here with the big board, Howard. Show us all the tariffs. You and I did a lot of videos about those tariffs and the math behind those tariffs. But fundamentally, that's an Article I power.

36:08Michael Popok:I know we think that the MAGA 6 and the Supreme Court, in their pocket versions of the Constitution, there's only Article II and the Second Amendment. Everything else has been cut out, apparently. But there is Article I with Congress, and Congress's powers vis-a-vis the rest of the co-equal branches of government. They get the tariff power, not a president under a false emergency. So there's a number of things that are up for grabs here. Donald Trump, once again, calling an emergency, whether he calls it an emergency, a war, a rebellion, an insurrection. These are all the ways that they drummed up in Project 2025 to give Donald Trump quickly superpowers and turbocharge the executive branch.

36:54Michael Popok:and it's taking federal courts, every ounce of their being, every fiber of their being in their case law to find ways to rein in an overgrown, out-of-control president who's moving the country towards tyranny because of this false use of emergencies. Now the Supreme Court's going to have to answer the question, is a trade imbalance that's 15 years in the making an emergency under IEPA? And even if it was, how does he get to do tariffs Like he's Congress. Why isn't that a major question that has to be resolved by Congress? Like we're okay with the president doing that, but here's a new statute that allows it.

37:35Michael Popok:Like that would be the major question. Now, if they're silent, if the MAGA 6 is silent about major questions, like Amy Coney Barrett or Roberts or somebody, then the goose is cooked. Then the cake is baked because that should be applied in this case. They should also be troubled by the emergency declaration, and they should be troubled by the use of the tariffs under this scenario. And you've got an interesting combination of people. Chambers of Commerce, states like California and lots of other public interest groups have filed briefs telling the court, do not cede this territory. Don't give this superpower to a president like that.

38:15Michael Popok:It's wrong. It's false. The Wall Street Journal came out with an editorial board article that you and I covered last week, which said, here's an example of why you don't want to have tariff power. Look what he did in Canada when he got trolled by an ad by Doug Ford of Ontario. Look what he did. I mean, leading into November 5 next week, you've got the Senate, including the Republicans who got together and said, no, you can't tariff Brazil 50 percent because you don't like what the Trump of the Amazon, you don't like the fact that he's going to jail for a long time for leading his Jan 6 insurrection.

38:51No, and they reversed him, signaling to the Supreme Court that even the MAGA Senate thinks that this power is not a power.

39:03Michael Popok:Now, here's the one missing piece, Ben, and then we can turn it back to you for the tariffs before we go to National Guard, which also is important as well. The brief that's missing, no surprise, is the brief from Congress. See, in cases where you're talking about the separation of powers and you're talking about the co-equal branches and one branch is getting shit on by the other branch, that branch generally files a brief. You know, they get together with their lawyers and they go, it's our power. He doesn't have the power. We have the power. It's Article 1 versus Article 2. It's a major question.

39:37Michael Popok:But on that issue, it's deafening silence because Donald Trump has them so wrapped around his finger. They're not even doormats. That's giving a bad name to doormats. Doormats, at least you acknowledge. Donald Trump doesn't even acknowledge the existence of the MAGA, Mike Johnson-led Congress at all. And so there's no brief from them. So it looks like it's only the executive branch led by the Solicitor General, Donald Trump's former federal criminal appeals lawyer, John Sauer, arguing for the executive branch. Where is the other? That's where the amicus briefs all come in. So we're going to know, like, in the first 15 minutes, based on who's going to do the opening question and the follow-up, whether tariffs are going to be upheld or not.

40:26Michael Popok:Now, the Trump administration is crying, as you like to do, whining their way through this with, you know, Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary, and, oh, it's trillions of dollars in America's entire, Donald Trump's entire economic policy is based on the tariffs. If it's based on a lie and an improper use of invalid, unconstitutional power, it doesn't matter what the benefit is. It doesn't matter that the ends don't justify the means if the means are illegal. And so this is a big one. I mean, I can't tell you how many times you and I have started off something about the Supreme Court saying in a landmark oral argument about voting rights or about, yes, everything with Donald Trump.

41:07Michael Popok:We're lurching from one constitutional crisis to another, which it comes as no surprise because people elected, you know, there's a majority of people who sent the felon with immunity back to the White House. I think you rounded out the tariff against the world analysis right. Right. We're going to, as you said, live stream it on the Legal AF YouTube channel. That's why everyone needs to subscribe there. But an interesting filing, posting, if you will, by the Supreme Court asking for additional clarification on the definition of regular forces and what that means in the context of Trump's invasion with the National Guard into these blue states and blue cities.

41:55So, Popak, talk to us if you can. You know, there is this underlying statute that we've analyzed before that delineates where the president can potentially invoke the use of the National Guard. You know, and there's like issues of rebellion and there's if the national if if other means can't be achieved and it's your last possible option that exists with the consent of the governor. None of those ever seem to meet to meet what's going on here where they're, you know, in Portland, Oregon, you've had, you know, people dressed up as frogs and, you know, dancing around. And I mean, look, occasionally does it get a little rowdy a little bit in the one half a block by the ICE facility?

42:44Sure, but it's not a rebellion. I mean, there's people protesting. It doesn't even extend out beyond a half a block. You go to Chicago, there is the Broadview facility, again, kind of a block area where there are peaceful protests. But it's mostly the ICE agents there who would provoke the people versus the opposite way around. And then one of the things we've seen, you know, the M.O., if you will, of the Trump regime is have ICE attack the communities, gas the communities, engage in these horrific, violent bump into people, crash your cars into people, make it public and violent and messy, use chemical weapons and then try to capture these scenes that look, you know, like they're very chaotic.

43:32but the chaos is being caused by the Trump regime. And they go, look, you see, this looks like a war zone. We've got our cameras filming it. Let's bring in the National Guard. So what's going on there, Popak?

43:44Michael Popok:Yeah, and it's very interesting trying to divine from an order of the United States Supreme Court as we were waiting for an order from them. They instead issued another order that they need new briefing. I'm not sure that new briefing request, once I'm done explaining it here, is helpful to Donald Trump. I think it actually spells trouble for Donald Trump's position, and I'll explain why in a minute. You and I have covered at length the ongoing National Guard issue, which at bottom, when we use that as shorthand here, as our audience knows, refers to Donald Trump's commandeering takeover of state militia, which we call the National Guard State Guard, in order to federalize them, put them under federal command, sometimes with federal officers and troops, sometimes with the military, to go after blue states and blue cities, but not red states and red cities, in order to embarrass Democratic mayors and governors.

44:42Michael Popok:There's no other way to put it. There's no justification to go into LA or San Francisco or Portland or DC or the threats against, and Chicago, or the threats against Philadelphia. If they were led by red governors and red mayors, we wouldn't even be having the show. I mean, the segment of the show. We'd have the show. We wouldn't have the segment of the show. But this was part of Donald Trump's toolbox to troll and undermine the Democratic brand, go after the icons of the Democratic Party, try to reduce to rubble the Democrats and have one party rule like any good dictator. That's what we're watching.

45:22Michael Popok:Whether you want to call it a slow motion military coup, you know, but all the factors are there. If a real, if a dictator who is a historic dictator came back or was present with a checklist, they saw everything that Donald Trump was doing with the attack on the press, the attack on First Amendment speech, the firing of generals and admirals, the getting rid of the press's ability to cover the government, the use of the military against the civilian population. They'd be like, check, check, check. That checks all the wrong boxes. But the National Guard's important. And various judges and appellate courts around the country are struggling with using the available constitution and law, the books, some of which which is on the books since the late 1700s and 1800s, to reign in an overgrown out-of-control president.

46:14So we see it in the Ninth Circuit, which sits over Oregon and California.

46:19Michael Popok:We see it with Judge Imragut, who held a trial this week with testimony, live testimony, about federal officers effectively firing weapons and riot munitions at local law enforcement. We see it with the Seventh Circuit and judges there, two judges there in Chicago about whether the National Guard is appropriate there. And all at bottom, now at the doorstep of the Supreme Court, is this statute we call 10 U.S.C. 12406, which has to be read in conjunction with some other statutes that all came out at the same time. The Insurrection Act, 12406, the Posse Convatatus Act, They all kind of get read together.

47:03Michael Popok:And the 124061, which is basically an exception to the Posse Comitata statute, which says you can't use the U.S. military against civilians for domestic law enforcement. 12406 says under three circumstances, one of three circumstances, the president, if he needs backup in the form of National Guard, state guard, state militia, independent from the regular forces of the military, he can tap them. But there has to be one of three scenarios present. First one, take it off the board because everybody admits that that's not present, which is we've been invaded by a foreign country. Okay, take that off.

47:41Michael Popok:Second one is there's a rebellion with a big R. Who gets to declare that? There's a whole fight over whether Trump gets to declare it. What is a rebellion? What is an insurrection? So it really is the third one. The third one is that the president, using his regular forces, not defined there, can't execute on federal law, can't execute the laws of the United States. And the question is, what does regular forces mean? There's two versions, there's two scenarios. Regular forces is either based on, if you go back to the Militia Act of 1795 and you go back to history and how that phrase has been used related to the Department of Defense, regular forces generally means the regular United States armed forces.

48:38Michael Popok:The Marines, the Navy, the Air Force, you know, I'm sure I left the Navy, the Coast Guard, the Space Force, that's regular forces. There's another argument that regular forces mean local law enforcement in addition to that. And then only if after sending in the regular forces and law enforcement, you still can't execute federal law. In this case, you still can't capture, process, detain, and remove people for your immigration policy, which is what we're talking about, because there's a couple of people protesting in front of an ICE facility. And you still need backup. Then you can commandeer and take over the National Guard.

49:24Michael Popok:And the Seventh Circuit has said, yeah, we don't see how you're able to take over the National Guard under this scenario. The Ninth Circuit, one panel of the Ninth Circuit said, you can in Portland. But then the Ninth Circuit, 29 judges of the Ninth Circuit got together and a majority of them said, yeah, we don't like that decision. We're throwing that decision out. We're doing it all over again on bunk with an 11 panel, 11 judge panel. And we'll get back to you sometime later this month. That's all going on in Chicago and in the California and Oregon. And now the Supreme Court has an emergency appeal in front of it from Illinois.

50:06Michael Popok:And we've been waiting around. You and I are like, every time I do a hot take, a video about the National Guard, I'm thinking it's going to go stale. As soon as they issue what we thought was going to be some sort of ruling and then dissents and concurrences from the judges about either supporting Trump and the National Guard or not. But that's not what they did after 10 days. They issued a new order requiring more briefing through the month of November on one issue. They just want a 15-page letter brief. That's all they want. What does regular forces mean? I think that spells trouble for the Trump administration, because if they come out with, based on history, that the regular forces are the armed forces, plus or minus the law enforcement, Donald Trump never called in the armed forces to try to protect his ability to execute federal law before he commandeered the National Guard.

51:00Michael Popok:That's why you see Donald Trump in the last 48 hours on social media saying, well, if they want me to call out more heavy artillery in the army, I'll do it. That's why. Because he's worried about that they'll find that the prerequisite for commandeering the state militia is not present because he didn't first try. Now, I don't love that scenario, by the way. We're going to roll out the army and the tanks to protect before we get to the commandeering of the National Guard. But I am a states rights person. I am a supporter, as I think most people on our podcast are, of the sovereign power of the states.

51:43Michael Popok:Would it take troops off the ground? No, it would put new federal troops on the ground. But we're going to have to come to some understanding through, unfortunately, the Supreme Court about what and how all of these things, the Insurrection Act, the Posse Comitatus Act, this commandeering of state militia act, how they all come together. That's what's at stake with this new briefing. And it will be imprinted on our democracy moving forward after a president not named Donald Trump is in office in 2028. It's interesting, too, if you think about the Second Amendment in the context of militias versus forces and a distinction that could be made there.

52:27And I wonder if the Supreme Court is trying to protect its Second Amendment jurisprudence, you know, because the Second Amendment says a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. I suppose if Donald Trump is viewing regular forces now as a well-regulated militia, it kind of undercuts their view as they kind of read out militia from the kind of underlying, you know, so I wonder if they're worried. So now if a well-regulated militia and you're saying it's armed forces, then it's clear that the Second Amendment must absolutely mean that we're talking about the army only and not people as well.

53:18And so I wonder if that's a consideration. But right now, the way the Supreme Court's making their haphazard rulings and their granting of absolute immunity when the very origin of our Constitution was a reaction against absolute immunity and the king, who knows what they're going to do.

53:37Michael Popok:I mean, on that point, on that point, I mean, James Madison in one of the Federalist papers who has been quoted a number of times by federal judges struggling to rein in Donald Trump, and I'm going to paraphrase it, said a version of the combination of an overgrown president with him controlling a standing army on U.S. soil is a ticket to tyranny. And that's what, you know, I always, this, the thing that chaps my backside is just, it just pisses me off is when Roberts, when he's interviewed, you know, after the term is over or whatever, sits in this hermetically sealed ivory tower of the Supreme Court and just says, I don't know why everybody's mad at me.

54:22Michael Popok:I'm just reading the Constitution the way – well, we all know that's false. I mean, there's new books written by our own contributors on Legal AF like Lisa Graves about the false prophet of John Roberts and the Trojan horse that he created to try to tear down the American political system as chief justice. But in particular, the fact that they don't recognize the tyrannical instincts of a president like Donald Trump having been turbocharged by their own immunity decision and don't recognize the threat that somebody like that poses. I mean, if our founding fathers or framers were brought back here to watch what was happening, they'd be shocked by the fact that the guardrails that they installed against this type of thing happening have failed so miserably because of the Supreme Court to rein in an out-of-control president.

55:21Michael Popok:And I think they would, I do believe they'd be shocked or they would have thought, yeah, you know, that thing we debated, we needed, we should have added that one more part in the Constitution because look what's happening in 2025. And it just galls me that they don't see the threat to liberty and democracy the way that our audience does, the way that Midas touched on the delay. The whole point of our Constitution is no kings. like if you really were to boil it down what's the what did we do no kings why we didn't like the king of england that's why the whole thing is based on that you and i would have british accents doing this show if we just ate so when you go yes kings absolute immunity it's like okay then everything else you're saying is so stupid because that's the most basic of concept i don't have to be a scholar to go back and go what was the purpose of the founding of this country like like hello.

56:16All right, let's take our last quick break of the show. A reminder to everybody that Michael Popak started his own law firm. It's called the Popak Firm, representing a lot of our listeners and viewers who have cases. Go to thepopakfirm.com or call 877-POPAK-AF. The consultation's free. If you've been injured in an auto accident, trucking accident, the negligence of somebody else has injured you, sexual assault cases, sexual harassment cases, employment cases, discrimination cases, medical malpractice cases. Give the Popak Firm a call, 877-POPAK-AF. Go to thepopakfirm.com. Again, consultation is free.

56:48They have lawyers throughout the country. Don't be shy. Give a call. And if you have a friend or anybody you know who may have a case, have them call the Popak Firm. Also, go check out Popak's YouTube channel, Legal AF. It's almost on its way to a million subscribers, 100 ,000 to go, and they hit 1 million. I'd love for them to hit a million before Thanksgiving. Big push there. And also subscribe to Michael Popak's Substack, the legal AF Substack. All right. Last quick break of the show. Home stretch. We'll be right back.

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1:00:08Michael Popok:Please support our show and tell them that we sent you. This Trump regime, they're obsessed with private jets. Michael Popak, we had Christy Noem buying Gulfstream, whatever exotic private jet so that she and Corey Lewandowski can travel the country. Not one, but two Gulfstream private jets for their own travel. Then we learned that Cash Patel has been using a private jet that costs$60 million to apparently pick up his 26-year-old girlfriend. She was either performing or singing at Penn State at some wrestling federate. It's It's called a real American freestyle wrestling. Excuse my ignorance if I have no clue what that is, but she was attending that event and he picked her up there and then he brought her back to where she lives in Tennessee.

1:00:57This guy, Kyle Serafin, a former FBI agent turned podcaster who's got beef with Patel and all that. He posted about it. And then you had Alexis Wilkins called him a grifter. and then he's like, why do you have FBI security detail? Like you're not even the wife of an FBI agent. Like what the hell is going on there? And I think it's not the first time that Patel has brought her to events also. I think in April it was hockey games and who even knows what else this regime is doing. But this became a pretty big public scandal. And what Cash Patel do to try to, I guess, create a wag the dog kind of moment.

1:01:38He got ahead of an FBI investigation. FBI was investigating people for a potential Halloween attack. They were on message boards. People were talking about in these like 4chan type chats, engaging in an attack in Michigan. I think the FBI was unclear at what stage they had informants there, but they were, I think, unclear what stage this planning was really at? Were these just young people, incel type people being crazy, or were these people who are actually going to act on it? And, you know, Kash Patel got access to the intelligence and apparently he like leaked it to the press. And then he's like, look, we're stopped.

1:02:24We stopped them. We've identified them. And the FBI is like, dude, we haven't even filed the criminal complaint. Like, you just destroyed our investigation. And actually, the Kyle Serafin guy who I mentioned, who's been in the beef with Patel, who exposed the flight that Patel was on, he predicted, he goes, expect any day now we're going to hear about a major bust from Kash Patel. And sure enough, boom, we get that story. You know, and rank and file FBI at this point, And they're just livid with Patel, the ones who are still there. The tough thing with these FBI agents is they really kind of have a career plan mapped out in their minds about their pension, how many years before they retire.

1:03:10It's not like in the DOJ where you work inside the DOJ, then you work at a private law firm and make high six figures or seven figures. When you leave, your FBI career is kind of your FBI career. You try to retire 20 plus years in once you've basically vested, you get your pension and then maybe you do consulting work kind of after that. But like it's hard for these FBI agents to leave, but they also know they're really under attack by an FBI director who hates the FBI. You know, it's just interesting connecting it to our first segment as well, because James Comey was a it was an FBI director.

1:03:44Right. Like he was the director of the FBI who is now under a criminal prosecution for how he testified accurately before the Senate. And so if you look at as an FBI agent, they're like they're going after the FBI director. Where do I stand in all of this? So, Popak, let's let's talk about this. cash to me we've talked about these high profile cases and you know and you know cash patella high profile person unfortunately right now after his years of grift and the ka dollar sign h merch that he would sell the stupid shit um but there are so many cases drug cases gang cases by sex trafficking cases that our FBI is no longer able to pursue that.

1:04:32Just we don't know one will know about these cases ever. But there were so many bad guys and terrible people and traffickers who are able now to run free, basically, because of the chaos that's being created. So that's why I think we finished with this segment.

1:04:48Michael Popok:Yeah. One of the things that's kept us safe, one of the major things that's kept us safe. that has been destroyed like a wrecking ball, the way the East Wing was destroyed by Trump, is the foundation of our national security. FBI, CIA, the national intelligence community have all been hollowed out, defunded, fired, reassigned, forced into retirement, both at the DOJ side, at the FBI side, at the CIA side, at the National Security Council side. I'm talking thousands and thousands of career people whose hands were on our controls and eyes were focused on keeping America safe are no longer in government.

1:05:45Michael Popok:Does anyone feel safer now? Now we're talking about terrorist plots in American soil, both domestic and foreign, cyber hacking of our infrastructure and of our financial services, electrical grid, financial services backbone and the rest. Does anybody feel more secure at night knowing that we have Kash Patel pulling his Bill Belichick by taking a 26-year-old who went to a college event on our company, Dime, smiling and posing for photos instead of focused on the national security of everyday Americans? Does anybody think that Kash Patel is focused on his job while he's chasing women on our taxpayer dime?

1:06:39Michael Popok:I mean, look, I know these are guys that never got you know what in college or high school or whatever. I get it. And now they've got a little bit of power. Power is an aphrodisiac. And using my taxpayer dollars along with our audiences, they're going out and romancing women. Okay, it's disgusting, but I see it for what it is. But there's a reason that Kash Patel has one foot, as my late mother would say, one foot in a grave and the other foot on a banana peel. and that's why the reporting is that Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche want to get rid of Kash Patel because he is the weak link among an entire chain of weak links between the Department of Justice and the FBI.

1:07:27Michael Popok:Kash Patel is the weakest of links because he does stupid shit, because he's not focused on his job, because he's mentally impaired and unqualified to be the FBI director. He announces indictments before they happen. He uses announcements in order to cover up scandals. And like you said, what is it with transportation and the people in the mega world? You got Nancy Mace, who starts live social media posting because TSA wasn't waiting for her as a one of 537 members of Congress show up at the airport, that there's no one there to greet her BMW. and she's lashing out at officers and TSA loudly about the fact that she, Nancy Mace, should not be treated like this as a member of the House.

1:08:29Michael Popok:Where was she when LaMonica MacGyver and other elected officials were being arrested and thrown to the ground, like Senator Padilla of California, during their attempts to provide oversight about ICE detention facilities? Is that a way to treat a member of Congress? The fact that you didn't have somebody waiting curbside for you, for you and your luggage to whisk you through TSA? That's a problem. Why do we have to spend 60, 70 million dollars of American taxpayer dollars on Gulfstream G5s so that Kristi Noem and her boyfriend or whoever he is, Corey Lindowski, can travel in style on private jets?

1:09:11Michael Popok:Okay? And why do we have to talk about Kash Patel romancing his underage, well, she's not underage, she's younger than him, girlfriend, taking her to events instead of focused on the American people? There is just this lack of focus. This is what we call in the public corruption business theft of honest service. It's actually a crime. Used to be a crime until Donald Trump got rid of the department within the Department of Justice responsible for public corruption and public integrity. Theft of honest service means you got elected to do something or appointed and confirmed to do something, and you're stealing the taxpayer dollars because you're not providing honest service.

1:09:58Michael Popok:Kash Patel is not providing honest service. Donald Trump certainly is not. Bondi, the Department of Justice, and the rest. So what we talk about at the top level of what we observe in real time, in real life, but below the surface is what really keeps me up at night, which is the undermining of our national security, the thing that has stopped another 9-11, the thing that has stopped another Oklahoma City bombing. has been the close coordination between the intelligence community, the FBI, local law enforcement. And we have a breach in all of those things. We've got a weakened, a weak-minded leader running all of these divisions.

1:10:44Michael Popok:Tulsi Gabbard, National Intelligence. Are you, I mean, you could not, if you made a movie, if you and I, now that you have, now that you have Midas Films, Midas, Midas Studios. Thank you, Midas Studios. Now that you're a movie mogul, a documentary mogul. If we pitch this in Hollywood, Tulsi Gabbard as the head of the intelligence, Kash Patel as the head of the FBI, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the head, they'd be like, get, will you, what? Get out of here. No one's ever going to go to that movie. Forget the movie. This is real life. And for those that say, what can we do about it? We'll see how the internal implosion between the DOJ and Cash Patel and Pam Bondi and Dodd Blanche play out behind the scenes.

1:11:36But what we can do about it is what we're looking to do at the midterms.

1:11:41Michael Popok:I have never in my entire life, and I'm coming up on a big birthday, which I will not reveal at this moment, in about a month. I've never in my time on planet Earth. and I've been a guy even before I became a podcaster with you who has been very mindful about our American presidency and the government I've studied it in college and masters and all that I've never seen a period in our life where the need for oversight by Congress and the checks and balance whatever's left of it by the Supreme Court is so necessary right now to control this overgrown, out-of-control tyrant that we call President Trump.

1:12:27Michael Popok:And the only way we can, it's simple. It's voting. It is exercising our fundamental right to vote. Protest, yes. Crowds, yes. Fight them in the courts, slow them down. Make bad things happen slower or not at all. Courts, yes. That's the fundamental part of our DNA on Legal AF and on Midas. And courage. And it's voting and making sure right now, not like two days before the election, right now that you are properly, whatever the new requirement is, that you are properly registered to vote in your state. I assure you, if you're in a red state, the rules have changed and you might have been bounced from the rolls.

1:13:10Michael Popok:Go and check. Check the database. Check the website. Check your local election officials and make sure you fix that. And whatever ways they have left us to vote early, mail-in, absentee, day of, whatever is left, we have to. It's not even like it would be nice if we got the House and the Senate back. It is existential that we get the House and the Senate back in order to rein in this president. And by the way, for those that troll us occasionally, I would be saying the exact same thing. if we had an out-of-control Democratic president and a lack of checks and balance because he controlled the House and the Senate.

1:13:53Michael Popok:I'd be talking about the office of the presidency as an institution that needs to be reined in, which is what I'm talking about. We have to get the House in the hands of blue. We've got to do the same for the Senate. We have to make Donald Trump lame duck. And if we don't, we have nobody to blame but ourselves. Because if we vote in the numbers that are reflected in polling, if the 10 or 12 or 15 million people, whatever that fluctuating number is, that sat out democracy during the last election come back and they find a compelling message by the other party to bring them back, we will win and we will restore this, start to heal this country again.

1:14:38Michael Popok:We can't fix everything. Not every Supreme Court precedent is going to go away overnight, but it starts with that. And that's why you and I, for the moment we get up in the morning at whatever, at weird times with our children, with our young children, to the time our head hits the pillow and our team and our editors and our producers and our contributors, this is why we're still here. It's not just a report on, hey, look at this crazy shit that Trump did today. That's a different show. This is about the preservation of our democracy and how we as an audience and as a community of almost 6 million strong, 7 million if you add in all the other aspects of Midas Touch World, can make the difference.

1:15:25Michael Popok:That's why we get people to come on our show like you do and I do to talk and brief our audience. It's to keep us focused, keep our hands on the controls and our eyes on the prize of repairing America come the midterms. Couldn't agree more with you there, Popak. And when California Governor Gavin Newsom asked me about, you know, how do you deal with this kind of constant barrage of crap that Trump throws out there? And I said, you know, yes, you have to report on what's happening on a day-to-day basis. But I said, you have to be philosophically rooted in values and principles and your coverage has to be informed by that and all go through that lens.

1:16:11And for us, it's democracy. It's actually law and order, not as a mantra, but as a way of life and actually handling things. It's about our justice system And it's about empathy. It's about our democracy. It's about standing up for marginalized communities. It's about standing up for facts, truth, evidence, science. That's what we do here each and every day. That's what's most important than what's my 5 a.m. video or my 7 a.m. video or my 10 a.m. video, right? It is a overall shoulder to shoulder with you, this community, our message about who we are in this world, what our place is in this world, what we want the world to be.

1:16:58So I'll leave you with that. A reminder, Michael Popak has started his own law firm. It's called The Popak Firm. Go to thepopakfirm.com or call 877-POPAK-AF right now for a free case review today. If you or somebody who's been injured in a car accident, a trucking accident, if you've been the victim of sexual assault or sexual harassment, if you know someone who's been the victim of somebody else's negligence or somebody who was involved in a wrongful death situation, we handle a lot of those types of very tragic cases. give a call to the Popak firm and they have lawyers across the country who can let you know for free if you have a case or not.

1:17:34Don't be shy. For real, give a call. Popak's representing a lot of our listeners. So do not be afraid to give a call or shy. These are important issues. So call Michael Popak. A reminder to subscribe to the Legal AF YouTube channel on its way to 1 million subscribers. Make sure you go there and subscribe. Also subscribe to Michael Popak's sub stack, the Legal AF Substack. Thanks everybody for watching this weekend's episode of Legal AF. One of the honors of my career is getting to do this with Popok and spending my time with each and every one of you each and every day. Thank you to Salty and our entire editorial team.

1:18:12It's working hard this weekend as always. We appreciate them. We appreciate you, the Legal AFers and the Midas Mighties. See you next time. Shout out Legal AFers and shout out Midas Might.

1:18:53We'll be right back. through July 6th at Wayfair.com.

1:18:57Michael Popok:Wayfair, every style, every home.