The Intersection with Michael Popok - 8/5/2025

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0:24Michael Popok:Welcome to The Intersection. I'm Michael Popok, and I sit at that intersection to defend democracy, but I do it with you and for you. I'm so glad you're here on the Midas Touch Network. As many people know, I'm traveling. I'm in Chicago today as part of the Popok firm. I'm meeting with all of the lawyers who work with me on these plaintiff's cases around the country. It was time for us to come together in one place, and we chose Chicago. But I couldn't miss the intersection. Let's get to it. We have so much to talk about. Ghislaine Maxwell, brand new reporting, new receipts. Trump folds against the Wall Street Journal.

1:01Michael Popok:The economy is in free fall and is stalling out. And then I want to talk about voting and why it matters and what courts are doing about election integrity and voter protection. Let's start right away, get into it, with Ghislaine Maxwell. Got some number of things that are data points, but I'm going to tie them all together right here. I think that's why you join me. We're watching the slow motion pardon of Ghislaine Maxwell. We're watching somebody, Donald Trump, who is so depraved and is so immoral that he needs to get an absolution and he needs to get character vouching and a character reference from a convicted child sex offender.

1:46Michael Popok:Let that sink in for a minute. How low have you sunk when you need a sex offender who's serving 20 years in prison for not just watching, but arranging sex abuse, participating in sexual abuse and assaults of girls and women? How low have you sunk that you need her to vouch for you? Because that's what we're watching. here's the new data point a couple of them one remember that nine hour interview that todd blanched donald trump's favorite criminal defense lawyer who sometimes is our department of justice number two um nine hours he spent with a convicted child sex offender never in the history of the department of justice and i say that a lot about this department of justice never have we ever had leadership go to a prison in order to interview a convicted sex offender Apparently that was recorded, audio and video, as I expected.

2:41Michael Popok:And now, because they like the results, which is going to be some version of her saying, let me, spoiler alert, Donald Trump wasn't on the plane to the island. Donald Trump didn't go to the island. Donald Trump didn't like little girls. Donald Trump didn't have sex or rape girls. You know, he wasn't that close of a friend and the rest. And then the rest of it, her exonerating herself and dumping on 100 other people not named Donald Trump. That's what's on the tape. I suspect that it was on the tape because before Todd Blanche even goes to Tallahassee, Florida, where she was at the time but is no longer, and meets with David Oscar Marcus, his buddy, his friend, her lawyer, brought in by Alan Dershowitz, Harvard law professor, accused himself in the sex trafficking at one time, and represented Epstein.

3:32Michael Popok:So you can't trust him or anything he says on television. He obviously brings in David Oscar Marcus, who he knew from Harvard. They're close friends. David Oscar Marcus is friends with Todd Blanche. There's a phone call. I've made them before. You make a proffer as the lawyer. This is what my client's going to say if you agree to meet with her and you give her immunity. And you give the proffer as the lawyer. No Fifth Amendment. She's going to say, Todd, that your guy was innocent. Your guy wasn't involved. Your guy didn't like this. and whatever. Todd said, that sounds good to me. I will give your client immunity.

4:10Michael Popok:The big client, the big boss told me I could give immunity. Stop right there. Donald Trump and a judge sex offender just gave immunity, queen for the day immunity, that's what it's called, to a convicted child sex trafficker. Okay. Now, fast forward. So there was a long call, I'm sure, between David. I'd like the tape of that forget the audio of the interview i'd like the audio of the david oscar marcus todd blanche call that's what we want to get our hands on and then he goes up there nine hours and he says like uh cheshire cat smile like the mona lisa i don't know i don't they'll be released in due time the notes or the results and now i see they're considering releasing the video and the audio if they're if they're considering doing that let me let me fast forward cut to the chase as they say.

5:00Michael Popok:It's because she did a character vouch for Donald Trump. Otherwise they wouldn't possibly, because you know what would happen if she said, well, you know, there were times when there were closed doors and I don't know what was going on back there. There were a lot of girls floating around. You know, she said something like that. It would be like, well, to protect the victims, to protect the innocent, you know, she's got a case up on appeal. We can't release it. But the fact that they're even considering releasing it, let's call it for what it is. Slow motion pardoned of Ghislaine Maxwell, who's not a victim.

5:31Michael Popok:So we got that announced. As the GOP MAGA are lobbying Donald Trump to not pardon Ghislaine Maxwell. Think about that. As decrepit and depraved and valueless as the MAGA Republicans are under Donald Trump. They are lobbying him not to do it Not because they care about him or the victims, thousands of them. They're worried about their own political hides. It would be terrible because every Democratic candidate in every district for Congress is going to pin that on the Republicans. What kind of party are you? How low have you sunk that your sex abuser president needs a child sex trafficker to absolve him?

6:24Michael Popok:It'll never work. Donald Trump likes to surround himself with sex traffickers and convicted child sex felons and people who are indicted for that. Why is Lawrence Taylor from the New York Giants up on the stage last week with Donald Trump about fitness for youth? You want Lawrence Taylor convicted, I think twice, not once, of sexually assaulting a girl? You want him up on a stage with children? Talking about children or talking to children? He even said it one time, I don't even know why I'm here. But I'll serve you. Donald Trump is also considering pardoning Diddy. Why? Another buddy, I know there's photos, another buddy of his?

7:05Michael Popok:You know? He's got a thing for child sex traffickers. that just did what just is so while that's going on right on cue and it's a setup MAGA congress and the oversight committee James Comer he's now subpoenaing the Epstein files not the grand jury records which we'll go over in a minute because that's the third piece of data that came out today not that he wants the entirety of the Epstein files which we know is about 35 to 40 gigabytes. Picture a couple of tractor trailers filled with information that the FBI poured over at Pam Bondi's behest. That contains the name of Donald Trump, and many of it was redacted.

7:49Michael Popok:That's what they've requested or demanded by subpoena. But at the same time, because they got to keep the distraction pressure up, they also want Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton and James Comey and Robert Mueller and this federal prosecutor and the attorney general, Merrick Garland. It's ridiculous. hoping, all they're doing is trying to invite a negotiation and a bargain and a compromise with the Democrats over, well, if you don't want Bill and Hillary, you know, then give up on the Epstein files. That's what they're trying to set up, this false equivalency. You know, it's like they're holding it hostage.

8:26Michael Popok:We're going to shoot Bill and Hillary unless you give us the Epstein files. You give up on the Epstein files. That's all that's going on here. And of course, they gave Ghislaine Maxwell a break right on cue within days of her being relocated to posh new luxury prison accommodations. James Comber suddenly backed off and said, well, we don't need to take her deposition before Congress right now. We can wait till the Supreme Court rules on her case. Rules on her case about what? Her case is not about the victims, evidence that she was wrongly convicted her case at the Supreme Court. Her appeal is about whether she gets the benefit of an immunity agreement that was signed by Jeffrey Epstein, negotiated by Alan Dershowitz 15 years ago, which she's not named in.

9:11Michael Popok:She wasn't a party to, and she didn't sign. That's the case. It's not that she's not a convict. She doesn't think that she's innocent. She just thinks she has immunity. So why do we have to hold back on all of this testimony stuff? But that was at the behest of the White House. The White House is trying to figure out a way to take oxygen out of this story, although they keep blowing oxygen through bellows into the fire and it blows up on them. Then you have this reporting in Donald Trump, where he talks, of course, the deeper holy digs, about right after, within days of her giving the testimony, that's now going to be released to the public.

9:50Michael Popok:Get it? Ghislaine Maxwell receives part of her payment. I mean, the big payment is the pardon, but she got a partial down payment on her pardon. She got moved from a minimum security prison to a low security camp. She gets to go to camp for the summer in Texas, along with a bunch of other C and D and E and G and Z-rated and Z-listed minor celebrities who are over there, like some, you know, the shahs of Salt Lake City, real wives is in there for fraud. And Elizabeth Holmes is in there for fraud. And now they're moving her in. It's a camp. There's like no cells. You live in a dormitory. You live in a bunk.

10:29Michael Popok:You know, there's like a low wall. You could easily hop over and leave. That was a reward. And they asked Donald Trump today, did you know she was transferred? Of course he approved the transfer. And he said, no, but it's not unusual. It is. That's a lie. It's very, it's not unusual. It's against Bureau of Prisons policies. I defy anyone from the Bureau of Prisons. Come on my show and tell me another circumstance where a convicted sex offender was given a reward and upgraded to posh new prison assignment, new prison relocation. And that will take long for you to come on the show because the answer is zero.

11:10Michael Popok:The answer is that's never happened. That's how uncommon it is. Why would you be rewarded? And let's, again, stamp out once and for all in your conversation with people in your life and social media that Ghislaine Maxwell is a predator. We just got a new filing from David Oscar Marcus, the appeal lawyer, because Judge Engelmeyer in New York, one of two judges handling the remaining, are we going to release the the grand jury transcripts are not issue and i don't think they are uh he wanted to hear from the victims and he wanted to hear from galane maxwell victims were like release the files you know i know some lawyers that represent some of the victims release the files but he wanted to hear what galane maxwell had to say galane maxwell said oh no don't release the files oh no the first line in the brief filed by david oscar marcus was my favorite line Jeffrey Epstein's dead Ghislaine Maxwell isn't and she's a scapegoat and she's the fall guy because she's the only living participant in the conspiracy that's why she's a fall guy no she got convicted David sorry because she committed crimes crimes against humanity crimes against girls that's why she was convicted so I don't want to hear any other attempt if the next thing out of anybody's mouth on the MAGA side that comes out of their pie hole, out of their face, if I hear them try to make her to be some sort of victim to soften up the public for the pardon, I'm going to vomit.

12:43Michael Popok:Maybe not on air. Maybe on the live on Substack. Come over to Legal AF Substack. Who knows? Maybe I will do that. So his new filing is don't release it. Of course they Epstein's, sorry, Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers and Ghislaine don't want that released. She's trying to curry favor with the public. She's trying her case in the public. She wants people to think, oh, Ghislaine Maxwell, poor little rich girl, fell in with Epstein for 15 years while he abused girls that she participated in, that she hunted for him. Oh. Oh, yeah, she doesn't want anything as David Oscar Marcus is so delicately crafting a counter story in the public's mind that she's the victim and that she should be released, which is what he said exactly.

13:36Michael Popok:And she's been the scapegoat, the fall guy, the fall woman. He doesn't want real evidence to come out that would puncture a hole in that. He needs that mythology to survive long enough for Donald Trump to grace them with a pardon. If the evidence came out of the only, it was only, by the way, there was only two witnesses in the Ghislaine Maxwell grand jury. Two. An FBI agent and a member, and a New York City detective member of the Sex Crimes Tax Force. Now they did a summary, it's called a summary witness. They did a summary of the evidence and, you know, put on a lot of bad evidence about a thousand victims.

14:15Michael Popok:She doesn't want that out right now. Right? She's trying to tiptoe through, you know, what's the phrase? She's trying to run through the raindrops and not get wet. She's trying to run through a minefield, not blow off her legs. and the victims are livid that she's being given this type of accommodation this type of celebrity is being she's being bassed in the glow of celebrity courtesy of Donald Trump who won't reject giving her a pardon because he's going to give her a pardon have I said that before? and that's why the GOP MAGA are like don't give her the pardon that's radioactive that makes you politically radioactive and us too So that's where we are with all things Epstein, right?

15:03Michael Popok:I want to talk about for just a second, a few things that are important in my life and on the intersection and things around Legal AF. Hopefully, you know, I hope there's new audience members that don't know me from the Legal AF world, but of course, I'm the co-founder of Legal AF, the podcast that I do with Ben Misalas and Karen Freeman McNifolo. Top 20 on all YouTube podcasts. That's all because of you. We appreciate that. Audio downloads do that too. We need that help as well. Legal AFT Substack. We need more support there. I'm only asking for it because it's just necessary to kind of keep us on the air, on the air, put a ring fence around us, protect us.

15:44Michael Popok:I won't go over the attacks that we get, but it would be helpful if we could get some more subscribers there. I have a new firm. It's a year old now, eight months old, that I formed called the Popak Firm, sort of standing on the shoulders of Legal AF and Midas Touch and the work that we've done there to support our audience, Legal AF and Midas Touch and Intersection audience. So if you have somebody in your life that has been the victim of a catastrophe, a truck accident case, a car accident case, a serious rideshare, Uber, Lyft accident case, something that's been catastrophic with the major personal injury or, God forbid, death, medical malpractice cases, civil rights cases, of course, as well.

16:32Michael Popok:If you have something like that, I've put together an amazing team around the country. I just met with them today in Chicago. And they're called Big Auto, but don't be fooled by Big Auto. They're not just a personal injury firm. They are the top plaintiffs, lawyers in America. To get into the club, They've got to have they have to have collected at least one billion dollars with a B on behalf of their clients and service them right and turn their cases around and try their cases. And they have to be fully vetted and tested. And that's why I joined with them, because you need the top lawyer who is in every jurisdiction, who knows the judges, who knows those juries, who drinks that water.

17:15Michael Popok:and more importantly, has the firepower and the expertise and the track record to beat big insurance companies that are trying to victimize the victims all over again. So go to the Popak Firm. It's easy to find. It's at www.thepopakfirm.com. Free case consultation form pops right up. You can read about our different practice areas or call our 1-800 number, 1-877-POPAKAF. And now, in addition to that, let's have a word from our sponsors that keep us on the air. Here we go. If you've ever experienced discomfort from heat and sweat, especially during the summer months, it's time to rethink how you care for your personal hygiene.

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20:02Michael Popok:Your biology decoded, your blueprint activated with superpower. Listen, after you purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them our show sent you. Welcome back to The Intersection, the podcast with Michael Popok. Finally convinced the brothers to give me my own show. and it's here Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. We have over 300 ,000 people. I'm so glad you're here. The way to support us, of course, is audio downloads, YouTube, review us, five-star rate me. Come on over to Legal AF, the sub stack, and Legal AF, the YouTube channel. I have 10 new videos a day up on Legal AF YouTube channel with about a dozen contributors adding new ones every day.

20:48Michael Popok:I got a great announcement. Adam Classfield of All Rise News is coming to Legal AF starting this week. Adam Klassfeld, All Rise News, can't find a finer mind when it comes to legal reporting. He was on Morning Joe at one point, but now we got him. Looking for daily videos with a new playlist called All Rise News. All right, let's get back to it. Speaking of All Rise, something happened in the court today for Donald Trump, and it was another example of him folding under pressure. It's Taco Tuesday for Donald Trump in the Wall Street Journal Rupert Murdoch case. What happened? Well, let me do a little wind up and then I'll do the pitch.

21:33Michael Popok:The wind up is Wall Street Journal a couple of weeks ago runs that front page story. They got it dumped in their lap. I'm sure from some collaborator, some cooperating, some leaker gave them a copy of the leather bound scrapbook containing a birthday card pasted in it for Jeffrey Epstein by one Donald Trump. Who is the person that put together the scrapbooky thing? Ghislaine Maxwell. Of course, Donald Trump's BFF, one of his BFFs, lots of people. I mean, I'd have to do a show that went on for hours to show all the photos and videos of Ghislaine Maxwell, Donald Trump, Melania, Epstein, Donald Trump, fill in the blank.

22:15Michael Popok:So I'm not saying that Donald Trump sat down at an arts and crafts table and actually made it with like glitter, glitter, glitter and a glue gun. I'm not saying that. He's got plenty of people in his office that can draw dirty pictures. And all he has to do after he gives the outline is come in and put that little Sharpie, you know, in the, you know, naughty parts of the woman that he drew. That's how that got made. And then I got glued into a book, a birthday present, along with lots of other people's birthday wishes for Jeffrey Epstein. The problem for Donald Trump is it was a terrible, lousy look for Donald Trump to have said, on one hand, in an interview a year before the card making, that, oh, Jeffrey Epstein likes those women young.

23:04Michael Popok:and then when you have a sex trafficker and a pedophile to be caught in your birthday card talking about him being an enigma and having secrets. That's a bad look, don't you think? Not for Donald Trump. I mean, I said in the first segment, he's got a convicted child sex trafficker who he needs to vouch for him. That shows you how low where he is. So you've got the book, you got the Wall Street Journal article, Donald Trump's livid about it, calls up Rupert Murdoch before the publication because he gets wind of it from the reporter. And he says, Rupert, I didn't draw it. I don't write it. I don't doodle.

23:41Michael Popok:And Rupert said, I'll look into it or and or I'll take care of it. Well, he took care of it. He took care of it. He went and talked to the reporters, I'm sure. He talked to his First Amendment lawyers. They vetted the article three ways to Sunday, knowing I'm sure there were other newspapers that were ready to report on it. and they ran the story once they were comfortable that they were immune and insulated from defamation because they got the story right. And Donald Trump, he painted himself into a corner with the American public and MAGA. I got to sue now. I got to file that lawsuit. So he files a lawsuit in Miami, federal district court.

24:15Michael Popok:Why wasn't it West Palm Beach? For two reasons. Because when you file in the Southern District of Florida, where I practice, you can check the box for West Palm near Mar-a-Lago, where he lives. Or you can check the box from Fort Lauderdale or Miami or something else. They picked Miami, I think, for two reasons. One, they wanted to avoid Eileen Cannon because they didn't want the case assigned to her in case they got to elevate her to an appellate court judge or Supreme Court justice. I know we all just threw up in our mouth, but let's be honest with each other, right? That's why we're here at the intersection.

24:44Michael Popok:To be honest, then we'll go over what to do next. And I think they wanted to avoid Judge Middlebrooks, the senior status judge. a Clinton appointee, that already threw the book at Donald Trump and Alina Haba for over a million dollar fine when he found that their meritless lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party, John Podesta and the rest, you know, was in bad faith. So they didn't want to get him. There's only three judges up there, Rosenberg, Middlebrooks and Cannon. They didn't want to do that one. So they went to Miami, but they happened to pull on the random wheel of 20 judges, Darren Gales.

25:25Michael Popok:I love Darren Gales. He was a great state court judge. I supported his campaign. He got elevated by Obama to the federal bench, as many of the Miami judges do. And he's great. He was also the judge that presided over Michael Cohen's defamation case, where Donald Trump sued him for$500 million. And that case did not go well for Donald Trump. Gales runs a tight ship. He's unflappable. He's got a great judicial demeanor. He reminds me, if you remember Judge Mershon in New York, his temperament. In fact, I've compared his temperament to the two of them together. And I've had people that have been before both agree with me.

26:00Michael Popok:I've been before Gales. I haven't been before Mershon. So he pulled the judge that's not going to allow any nonsense to happen in his courtroom. So Donald Trump taking the lesson out of, oh, let me finish with Michael Cohen. So Michael Cohen right away demands a deposition of Donald Trump in the very beginning. Donald Trump folds, dismisses the case. Donald Trump probably thought, well, it was good for Michael Cohen. I'll try it. So right away, within the first week of filing the lawsuit, before discovery, the exchange of documents, the meeting, the report you have to file with the judge, the order from the judge about discovery, before any of that is done in the first month or two, He decides, oh, we'll catch him flat-footed.

26:38Michael Popok:I'll demand a deposition, an emergency deposition of Rupert Murdoch because he's old. I'm not kidding. It's a bene essa motion. It's a Latin term. To preserve the evidence because you fear that the witness is going to die or be out of the jurisdiction. And you want to preserve it. So they wrote all sorts of terrible things about the Murdoch being 94 years old and having COVID and broke his back and passed out and whatever. I'm not sure 80, whatever he is, Donald Trump in his corpulent self is in better shape than Rupert Murdoch. But be that as it may, that was pending. And I said early on, if I were the lawyers for Murdoch, and he's got great lawyers.

27:24Michael Popok:He's got a firm up in New York that represents all media outlets in First Amendment cases. They're phenomenal. And a local counsel who I knew as well from my practice down here. I said, if they were smart, they would say, you want his depo? We want your depo. Like the next day. Or, you know, and then horse trade. That's exactly what happened. They, I'm sure the meet and confer, which is the required phone call between the two counsels, went something like this. hey Alejandro that's the lawyer for Donald Trump I see you have this motion that you want to have a deposition of Rupert Murdoch under oath in 14 days that's fine but on the 15th day have your client ready well what do you mean well we're taking your client well don't you want discovery well you don't seem to want it so why don't we do it now I said when that motion was filed that Donald Trump revealed himself that his case did not have merit because he said in the second page of his motion that all the knowledge about the case was in the mind of Rupert Murdoch.

28:24Michael Popok:Well, how do you sue then if you don't have the proper grounds to sue? Okay. I think that was one part of the conversation. You want our deposition in two weeks? We want your deposition in two weeks in one day. And everybody knows, unless you lived under a rock, that Donald Trump does terribly in depositions. Terribly. When he's not taking the Fifth Amendment, making himself out to be a criminal. Have you seen him get beat mercilessly by Robbie Kaplan in the E. Jean Carroll case? He got so confused. He didn't know what photos were. He didn't recognize E. Jean Carroll. He thought it was his first wife or second wife, Marla Maples.