Trump AG War Erupts Behind Closed Doors

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2:00Popok:Alina Haba in one corner, Janine Pirro in the other. Two female MAGA lawyers enter. One leave for the job of attorney general. Perhaps it's time to revisit that new game show, Who Wants to Be Donald Trump's Attorney General? Alina Habba throwing her hat back in the ring with a recent Instagram posting in the last couple of days of her in the Oval Office under the quote or the quip, always a pleasure as she visits Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. Who would win between Janine Pirro and Alina Habba? What about Lee Zeldin? What about Todd Blanche? Is there anyone else orbiting around MAGA world who could slip into the race and become Donald Trump's next short-lived attorney general?

2:53Popok:Let's cover it all on Midas Touch and Legal AF. I'm Michael Popok. Take a minute, hit the free subscribe button on Legal AF YouTube channel. Alina Habba never really leaves the public stage, even when she gets fired. Alina Habba was Donald Trump's criminal defense lawyer, got in trouble representing him in cases, had a million-dollar sanctioned against her by Judge Middlebrooks for bringing a suit in bad faith in a civil context, screwed up the first E. Jean Carroll case for Donald Trump where he lost and was a judge to be a sex abuser, and so on. was also on the team, on the periphery at least, when Donald Trump lost a 19 felony count conviction against two of his companies for business record fraud and tax fraud, and also was on the periphery of the team that lost the 34 felony count case related to Stormy Daniels in the New York case in front of Judge Mershon.

3:55Popok:She also was the lawyer that lost a lot of losses here. Don't you see a pattern? Lost the$400 million plus civil fraud case brought by the New York Attorney General against Donald Trump, all of his family, and his companies for persistent fraud. And yet she remains in Donald Trump's orbit, oftentimes, you know, mockingly referred to as his office wife would accompany him to MMA fighting and other events at Mar-a-Lago. She apparently has left her husband, maybe getting ready to be attorney general, and has moved from New Jersey to where? Near Mar-a-Lago. Right. And now continues to be in the orbit.

4:37Popok:Now, when she was appointed to be the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, which is a federal prosecutor's office, she was eventually tossed by a series of judges and appellate courts because she was illegally appointed. And then she overstayed her 120-day welcome under the Vacancy Reform Act. But did Donald Trump throw her out like the morning trash, like day-old fish, like Pam Bondi or even Lindsey Halligan? And no, he kept her in the government. She became the special assistant to Pam Bondi, advising about U.S. attorneys. In fact, federal judges like a federal judge in New Jersey believed for a time that Alina Haba was still running the New Jersey office, even though she had been tossed by a federal judge from doing exactly that.

5:32Popok:And yet she kept showing up like a bad penny whenever Pam Bondi was around. So now Pam Bondi's gone. So she's the special assistant to who? Todd Blanche? She didn't post a photo of Todd Blanche, who's right now got the job, at least as an interim level, which moves us on to Janine Pirro. Yes, Janine Pirro, formerly of Fox and Fox News and Fox and Friends and all the Foxes. She, a conspiracy theorist, a Jan 6th denier, election denier of the first order. Janine Pirro had been a Westchester County judge for a bit, never a federal prosecutor, not qualified, doesn't have the chops to be the Attorney General of the United States.

6:19Popok:But that hasn't stopped her from her in her position as the District of Columbia U.S. attorney to try to gain attention. She's been trying out with an extended tryout. She constantly posts on her social media and Instagram about how she's lowered crime in D.C. and gone after Donald Trump's political targets like the Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell, unsuccessfully. A series of unsuccessful prosecutions, you know, that she, you know, litters the playing field in front of Jeanine Pirro. You know, she wasn't able to prosecute Jay Powell, the Federal Reserve Chair, because Chief Judge Bozberg quashed the subpoenas.

6:58Popok:She wasn't able to obtain an indictment from a grand jury against six members of Congress, including two sitting senators, because they made a 96 second video encouraging people in the military not to file or follow unconstitutional orders. But in MAGA world, she's got her bona fides, constantly posting on Instagram pictures of herself at like Carolyn Levitt's baby shower, the propagandist in chief, all sorts of other things. So for me, in terms of if Donald Trump's going to go the female attorney general route again, he's got Jeanine Pirro versus Alina Haba. Both terrible for the rule of law in our democracy, but certainly they are openly campaigning for it.

7:44Popok:There's even insider information that Janine Pirro threw Pam Bondi under the bus, frequently questioning her legal acumen or abilities. Which brings us back to Todd Blanche. This episode is brought to you by IQ Bar, our exclusive snack, hydration, and coffee sponsor. IQ Bar protein bars, IQ Mix hydration mixes, and IQ Joe mushroom coffees are the delicious, low-sugar brain and body fuel you need to win your day. If you want to try everything, the Ultimate Sampler Pack is a great place to start. You get nine IQ Bars, eight IQ Mix Sticks, and four IQ Joe Sticks. All IQ Bar products are packed with clean, delicious ingredients that keep you physically and mentally fit.

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9:13Popok:That's LEGALAF to 64000. Message and data rates may apply. See terms for details. The reason I think that Todd Blanche hasn't gotten the top job just yet, where Donald Trump announces that he's nominating him for the attorney general position, is first of all, Donald Trump likes Hunger Games. He likes to pit people in his administration against each other to destabilize them. And Todd Blanche is not well trusted within the MAGA world. So Trump's trying to see if MAGA backs off and supports Todd Blanche or not in the position. If they do, I think Todd Blanche will probably get the job. And if MAGA continues to attack him as a closet Democrat, I think Todd Blanche won't get the job.

9:55Popok:I mean, Todd Blanche, let it be known, that he is a principled conservative, a Republican, that there are just certain things he won't stoop beneath to do. That doesn't usually do well for Donald Trump, who wants you to steep lower than you ever thought you would go in order to enable his worst instincts. Which brings us to Lee Zeldin. I've talked about him at length, a former congressperson from Long Island, who is now the EPA administrator, busy wrecking our water and health in the back pocket of big oil, but a leading candidate because Donald Trump likes the cut of his jib. He likes the way he defends the Trump administration.

10:34Popok:Now, there are others out there, including some that may come in as a dark horse candidate and get picked at the very end. Although Tom Tillis, of course, the senator from North Carolina, who's made it clear that anybody that's an election denier, anybody that's a Jan 6 denier, is not going to get the job. and he's got the ability to be the kingmaker there because he sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee. And if he slides over from the Republican side to the Democratic side, boom, that person is blocked. And they can't do much against Tom Tillis. He's bulletproof. He's untouchable. He's not running for office again.

11:16Popok:He's already retired. He's already said he's not going to run again. So, you know, Donald Trump's threats of, I'm going to do a primary challenge against you. He doesn't care. I'm going to undercut your fundraising. Who cares? I'm going to take away your Senate positions. No, that's not happening. I mean, I guess there's been threats to do that, but that's not going to happen. So at the end of the day, what do we have? Is the Alina Habba to be attorney general, is that just to scare the crap out of everybody so that it'll soften us up for a more reasonable proposition? Maybe, maybe. But I think Alina Habba definitely wants the job.

11:51Popok:She didn't fire her husband, moved to near Mar-a-Lago to start a life as a debutante running around with Donald Trump if she didn't want to stay in that orbit. And I think they all realize that once Donald, once this gig is up, right, once Donald Trump is out of office, their power and their luster all shrinks by comparison, right? Because they're all moons and they need a giant malignant narcissistic sun to shine on them because they can't generate their own power, their own light, if you will. And so when he's gone, their careers are about done. So they're trying to maximize what they can do now, which answers the question, why would anybody want to be the temporary part-time attorney general for Donald Trump?

12:39Popok:He went through five of them in the first term. He's already on his second now, could be his third by the time this whole thing is over or more. And it seems to be something that you wouldn't want this short term. I know we're in a gig economy. That doesn't sound like something you'd want to do. But these people, depending upon where they are in their own careers, I mean, Habba right now is out of a job. I mean, she has a made up, no work, no show job. She could use a little luster of being an attorney general, although I think it would be terrible for her and for Donald Trump if what he's trying to accomplish is some sort of rehabilitation of the Department of Justice and him, especially about the Epstein files, it's not going to be through Alina Haba, another political hack taking the job.

13:26Popok:And the real question is, is Susie Wiles, the chief of staff, and Melania Trump, his wife, which seems to be his closest advisors, are they going to allow Alina Haba in there? I don't really know what Melania Trump's Alina Haba thing is, or if she sees, now that she's single, if she sees her as a potential younger version, a younger model replacement. But I just don't think that she's going to support Alina Habba for that. But we'll follow it. You're here on Midas Touch and on Legal AF. Take a moment, hit the free subscribe button over on Legal AF YouTube as we continue to grow our pro-democracy channel.

14:00Popok:Until my next report, I'm Michael Popak.

14:12Popok:Or a oral argument. Come over to the Substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do call, wait for it, Morning AF. What else? All the other contributors from Legal AF are there as well. We got some new reporting. We got interviews. We got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes. Where? Legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.

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