In short
The episode alleges Donald Trump is using a “shell game” involving the IRS, DOJ, and a $1.7 billion victim compensation fund to pay Jan 6 defendants/clients, with Mark McCluskey portrayed as a key architect.
Guest backgrounds
Michael Popok (host/attorney) provides legal analysis; he references “amici” experts: former federal judge John Gleason, former Solicitor General Don Verrilli, and litigator Faith Gay (Selendy Gay). No other guests appear in the transcript.
Key claims
Trump controls Treasury/IRS and DOJ, creates/settles a “phony” Federal Tort Claims Act case in Miami before Judge Williams rules, then diverts DOJ victim-compensation money to benefit allies, violating separation of powers.
Notable examples
McCluskey’s 2020 misdemeanor gun conviction during BLM/George Floyd protests; his later election-denier representation under the Federal Tort Claims Act; Judge Williams in federal court in Miami.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOMark McCluskey's Legal Journey
2:28 to 5:04
Discussion on Mark McCluskey's post-conviction legal activities.
“Remember the gun-toting lawyer couple, Mark McCluskey and his wife in St.”
Trump's Compensation Fund Scheme
5:04 to 9:41
Analysis of Trump's alleged victim compensation fund and its legality.
“Well, way back during Black Lives Matter and in 2020, leading into 2021, McCluskey and his wife, who are lawyers, were famously prosecuted by the St.”
Constitutional Violations and Lawsuits
9:41 to 14:00
Discussion on potential constitutional breaches and upcoming lawsuits.
“After you purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them.”
Transcript
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2:28Michael Popok:Remember the gun-toting lawyer couple, Mark McCluskey and his wife in St. Louis, during Black Lives Matter and the George Floyd protests, who were convicted of misdemeanor gun charges for menacing people with their weapons. You know what he's been doing since he had his criminal record expunged by the Missouri courts? He's been representing Jan's sixth insurrectionist, hundreds of them, bringing claims against the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act, just begging the government to settle with him. And the question today is, is he the the brainchild for Donald Trump's decision to create a$1.7 billion victim's compensation fund in a return for him dropping a fake suit against his Internal Revenue Service.
3:21Michael Popok:And if it's against the Internal Revenue Service that he has his phony claims, why is Donald Trump draining the Department of Justice's victim compensation fund to pay Jan Sixers. Oh, let's update the story. It all started with Donald Trump suing under his own Federal Tort Claim Act case, the Internal Revenue Service for$10 billion. That case landed in the lap of Judge Williams in federal court in Miami. And Donald Trump, afraid of what she's about to do in the next five days in terms of deciding if the case is legitimate or not, whether she has jurisdiction over it or not, He's about to settle it.
4:03Michael Popok:But that's where Mark McCluskey may come in. I mean, the last time I thought about him, he was holding some sort of machine gun or weapon in a menacing way to try to get protesters to pass by his house and was convicted for it. But then it turned out he's made a cottage industry out of representing John Sixers. and could be his idea for the victim compensation fund, which makes it even the more depraved and immoral. I'm Michael Popok with an update about the IRS shell game that Donald Trump is perpetrating on the American people to divert and effectively money launder$1.7 billion. It doesn't belong to him.
4:45Michael Popok:It doesn't really belong to the Department of Justice or the Internal Revenue Service. It belongs to you and me. It belongs to Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer. And Trump's going to set up a commission that he, only he, controls that's going to give out funds to Mark McCluskey's clients. Let's get to the bottom of it here on Midas Touch and Legal AF. All right. Well, way back during Black Lives Matter and in 2020, leading into 2021, McCluskey and his wife, who are lawyers, were famously prosecuted by the St. Louis County Prosecutor's Office, and he pled guilty to a misdemeanor. He had his law license taken away.
5:27Michael Popok:Eventually it was restored and he got the governor to pardon him in 2024. Pardons are all the rage for the election denying crowd, the racist crowd, right? Got new reporting that Tina Peters is being sprung from a Colorado prison by the Colorado governor on the way out, who's going to give her a party because he thinks the seven years she got for interfering with the election as a clerk was too much. Okay. Be that as it may, we're back to McCluskey. He then restarts his career, decides he's going to represent other election deniers, including the weapon-toting ones that try to burn down the Capitol, hang Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress.
6:18Michael Popok:So he files under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which is how you sue the government, giving the government 180 days to respond. And then if you don't like that response, you go and file your lawsuit. I've got a number of Federal Tort Claim Act cases that I'm representing on behalf of Midas Mighty and legal AFers with the Popoc firm, for instance, for example. And in particular, I want to go through what this victim compensation fund would look like. I first thought it was going to come from the Internal Revenue Service, like holding back money they should be giving over to the Treasury, but keeping it in their pocket and turning it over to Donald Trump.
6:58Michael Popok:Now it looks like Trump, based on new reporting, is going to take it from the Department of Justice under real victim compensation funding. That doesn't belong to Congress. And there's not that much in there. He's going to have to get more and Congress would have to be the one to allocate it. Now, Trump created a phony lawsuit that Judge Williams in Miami was questioning whether this is a real lawsuit at all. Because look what Donald Trump controls in this discussion. He controls from his being the head of the executive branch, the Treasury Department and its Internal Revenue Service, completely dominates and controls them.
7:37Michael Popok:He controls his own Department of Justice. This is a shell game. He's going to have a suit against a phony suit that's not adversarial in cahoots and collusion with his own Internal Revenue Service. And then to settle that, he's going to force a third entity that he controls, the Department of Justice, to pay the bill. Using all our taxpayer dollars? Does this sound fraudulent to you? Does it sound like a violation of the Constitution? Well, it should. There's going to be lawsuits over it to stop the Department of Justice, stop the Internal Revenue Service, stop the Trump administration from violating Article 1 of the Constitution, Article 2 of the Constitution, create a slush fund for a president to benefit his allies and cronies.
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9:49Michael Popok:The fact that Mark McCluskey, the gun-toting lawyer, racist lawyer who was trying to make sure that Black people marching and others in support of Black Lives Matter passed by his house, he stood there with that weapon, we'll put up that picture, is the one that's maybe behind it all? Tells you everything you need to know about the lack of moral character of the President of the United States. I shouldn't have to do a report about an election denier, Jan 6 lawyer, coming up with the idea for a victim compensation slush fund controlled by the president. And let's remind everyone, including Donald Trump, that Congress creates executive agencies.
10:32Michael Popok:Congress funds executive agencies. The executive branch can't create its own agency, can't create its own victim compensation fund. That's a breach of the separation of powers, Article 1, and the rest. And that's going to be the subject of the lawsuits. At the same time, we're waiting and will be waiting on the inevitable filing of a voluntary dismissal to have the case closed. But I don't think federal judges like Judge Williams, who I know down in Miami, is going to be happy to be made to feel like she was a pawn, that she was used. The federal court system was used as cover for this conspiracy between the DOJ, Trump owns.
11:19Michael Popok:The IRS, Trump owns. The victim compensation fund that he will control. I don't think she wants to be a pawn in that, wearing a black robe as a lifetime appointed federal judge. What can she do with that? Let's talk about that. Well, you got lawyers who filed the pleadings and they can be sanctioned through the judge's inherent authority. That's one. The parties, IRS and the Trump administration, can be called on the carpet during an evidentiary hearing to determine whether they misled the court, whether they concocted in bad faith a collusive lawsuit in order to cover up for the funding. Now, she has already brought into the case three independent legal experts to advise her.
12:07Michael Popok:They filed their brief already. Former Judge John Gleason, federal judge, who's often an amicus curi brief writer for judges to guide them. Right. Don Verrilli, former Solicitor General of the United States, has argued dozens and dozens of cases successfully before the Supreme Court. Right. And Faith Gay, who has a firm in New York I know well called Selendi Gay, and she's a top flight litigator, well respected. They wrote a brief and guided her about whether Trump can even maintain this lawsuit at all with the executive branch director suing his own entities. And I think the judge should go back to them and say, was I just used, was the federal court just used in bad faith by the executive branch in order to cover up for a settlement on a phony lawsuit with no consideration?
13:03Michael Popok:And if so, what should I do about it? I think that's the next homework assignment, don't you? For the three, what we call the Amici, who joined together in that brief that just came out. Now, Trump obviously saw it along with his lawyers and panicked and said, oh, crap, based on the guidelines and blueprint provided by those three, the judge is likely to throw the book at us and find that there's no case. We better settle the case before she declares there is no case. and it got worse once I found the link through HuffPo of Mark McCluskey's involvement and we want to platform it call it out here on Midas Touch and on Legal AF thanks for being here I'm Michael Popok come over to Legal AF YouTube channel you may think that you're a subscriber but I assure you you probably aren't even though you'd like to be 40 million views a month we got appreciative of all of them, but there's a big gap that could be filled right now by you over on Legal AF.
14:04Michael Popok:So until my next report, I'm Michael Popak.
From the publisher
A gun-toting convicted felon lawyer, who was convicted with his wife for brandishing firearms at peaceful George Floyd/BLM protestors in 2020 (but later pardoned), who now has made a career out of suing the government for damages and attorneys fees on behalf of Jan6 protestors, may be behind Trump’s latest reported scheme to drop his manufactured $10 billion lawsuit against his wholly-controlled IRS, and force his. Popok responds to new reports that Mark McCloskey is the braintrust behind Trump’s idea to avoid the wrath of a federal judge and have his wholly-controlled DOJ fund a $1.7 billion compensation slush fund under Trump’s total control to pay the Jan6rs and others.
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