Trump and Cannon at Center of New Corruption Scandal

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2:05Michael Popok:Sponsored by GSK. A chief judge in Miami, Chief Judge Cecilia Altanaga, is right in the middle of a corruption scandal that's being accused. against the Department of Justice by the former CIA director John Brennan and his lawyers. They wrote a 16-page letter to Judge Altanaga, which effectively says the Department of Justice is corruptly trying to steer a case, an investigation, a grand jury proceeding against Brennan to their favorite judge, Judge Cannon in Fort Pierce, using their new favorite U.S. prosecutor, a guy down in Miami named Jason Redding Quinones, who's a friend of Pam Bondi's, who's a friend of Mike Davis, the right wing, the right wing influencer for the administration.

2:53Michael Popok:And they're accusing the administration, the Department of Justice of not only being captured by Donald Trump, but that they are steering the case to Judge Cannon on purpose. Now, they didn't go as far as to say Judge Cannon is corrupt. But in their 16 page letter, They did list a series of decisions by Judge Cannon that give off the appearance of impropriety and would suggest to the public why Trump wants the case there, especially according to the letter. The investigation or the criminal targeting of John Brennan was rejected by a series of other U.S. attorneys not named Jason Rating Quinones, like in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Eastern District of Virginia.

3:33Michael Popok:But it gets worse because now Pam Bondi has taken the bait and she's now responded to the media going after Brennan in the media while he's the target of a prosecution, which is also a violation of grand jury proceedings as well. And making a comment to the press saying that he's a bad actor and his lawyers are bad actors. And they're just trying to what? Trying to call out a corruption scandal being led by you at the Department of Justice. I'm Michael Popak. You're on the Midas Touch Network. Let's get to it. Off the weekend, we had the 16-page letter that was sent. I'm going to read to you from parts of it.

4:08Michael Popok:But let me tell you first how we got here. Roger Stone has been doing Donald Trump's bidding for a long time, going after his political enemies. And recently, Roger Stone put the crosshairs on the back of former CIA director John Brennan for the crime, apparently, of investigating whether Russia was colluding with Donald Trump back in 2016 to win the election and issuing a report about it, along with 30 or more other members of the intelligence community. So Roger Stone, at the behest of Donald Trump, goes on, I don't know where, Breitbart or CNN, and he gives the following statement. Here's Roger Stone.

4:50Michael Popok:Let's play it about John Brennan. CIA report this week tells us essentially what John Durham's report already told us, that John Brennan, who admits to being a communist, John Brennan, who signed the visas for four of the eight hijackers who attacked America on 9-11. John Brennan, who got caught red-handed spying on a Senate committee investigating his illegal use of torture. John Brennan, who pushed to include the phony Steele dossier in the intelligence community assessment given to President Obama so that they could rationalize a crossfire hurricane to try to remove a duly elected president, why hasn't he been arrested?

5:39One are 29 FBI agents going to storm his home at six o 'clock in the morning like they did to me. John Brennan is an arrogant criminal, and it's time, Pam, to scoop him up. And while you're at it, you might as well grab James Comey because there is more than sufficient evidence to charge both of them. And for those who say, oh no, the statute of limitations has run out? Not on the crime of treason, it hasn't. So do you think they will be, because they've been looked into recently? I think the public pressure now will be so great that they will be prosecuted. The other problem you have then is if you go to D.C.

6:17where there's not a single non-political judge and where you cannot get an honest, unrigged jury, it's very hard to get convictions in D.C. Hey, ask General Flynn or I can tell you all about it.

6:30Michael Popok:All right. Now watch. This is like a lateral play in football. You know, this is like where one, you know, the quarterback, lateral's it to a running back, running back, lateral's it to a wide receiver, back to the running back, try to score the touchdown. So you got the first lateral from Trump over to Roger Stone. Now you hand it off to Mike Davis. Mike Davis, this right wing guy who's constantly doing the bidding of the Department of Justice. And he's been accused in the letter, the 16-page letter, which I have up on Legal AF Substack, of actually leaking grand jury information. That's a big no-no on behalf of the Department of Justice.

7:07Michael Popok:You be the judge. Here's Mike Davis, who happens to be friends with Jason Reading Quinones, the U.S. attorney in Miami, handpicked by Donald Trump, to bring a case against Brennan up with Judge Cannon. You see the links here? Here is Mike Davis about John Brennan. Play it. So the Justice Department source is telling Fox that some of the head honchos of the Russiagate regime are now under criminal investigation. Former CIA director John Brennan and former FBI director James Comey, the current CIA director, John Ratcliffe, referring evidence of wrongdoing to FBI director Kash Patel, which sparked the probe.

7:46President Trump commented on it today. I think they're very dishonest people. I think they're crooked as hell. And maybe they have to pay a price for that. I believe they are truly bad people and dishonest people. So whatever happens, happens. But Brennan, well, he thinks that Trump needs to just let it go. Listen, move on, get over it. But clearly, Donald Trump believes that this is something that I think continues to need to be looked at and criticized. But again, I stand behind the assessment. So, you know, Mike, we're still learning the details of the full scope of the criminal investigation.

8:32but Fox reported that two sources described the FBI's view of the duo's interactions as conspiracy, which could open up a wide range of potential prosecutor, prosecutorial options. What would that conspiracy be? And what does that mean for Brennan and Comey? I've been saying this for years, going back to the Mar-a-Lago raid, the unprecedented, unnecessary and unlawful raid on the office of former President Trump for presidential records he's allowed to have under the Presidential Records Act. You had the Obama White House, President Obama, Vice President Biden, the Attorney General, the FBI Director Comey, the CIA Director Brennan, and many others.

9:13They made up the Russian collusion hoax against President Trump. They got an illegal spy warrant on him by lying to the FISA court. They continued to spy on him when President Trump was the President of the United States. This is an obvious criminal conspiracy against rights under 18 U.S.C. section 241. And I would say to Mr. Brennan, nobody's above the law, so you better lawyer up, buddy.

9:37Michael Popok:Now, if you think I'm making it up, hopefully you don't after years and years of my commentary and reporting, let me show you a photo of a very happy Mike Davis with Jason reading Quinones talking about justice is coming. Let's play. Let's show those photos. All right. See the connective tissue. And then there's a connection between Pam Bondi and Jason Reiting Quinones as well. He just got confirmed by the Senate. He's one of the few that gets confirmed by the Senate under Donald Trump. And the first thing he does is, where can I bring the case? And let me explain where his office is. His office is generally in Miami.

10:13Michael Popok:The Southern District of Florida, where I also practice, runs from Fort Pierce, which is about 90 miles or more north of Miami, up the coast, if you will, down to Key West. So from Key West to Fort Pierce with stops in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Fort Pierce. Up in Fort Pierce, there's just one judge. Her name is Aileen Cannon. West Palm's got two or three. Fort Lauderdale's got a bunch. Miami. Whole different places you can go for your grand jury. You got to go to Fort Pierce about John Brennan who never lived in Fort Pierce? uh i don't we you know we don't think so let me read to you from the allegations in the letter and then i'll give you pam bondy's response which i think violates a whole number of rules and ethical uh edicts they're requesting the judge out this is on mayor brown letterhead the lawyers for uh john brennan disclosure i've worked with mayor brown before they've represented a client of ours that we are mutually representing.

11:18Michael Popok:So I know the firm well. I don't know Ken Weinstein, although I will invite him onto Legal AF. This is the letter they wrote. As explained below, this is Dear Chief Judge, it has become clear that a regular activity is taking place in connection with that grand jury investigation about their client, which is affecting our client's right to fair and impartial treatment. One example is the violation of grand jury secrecy rules, like, you know, the Davis comments that we just saw before. Even more troubling and potentially harmful relates to the government's apparent effort to manipulate grand jury and case assignment procedures to ensure that this investigation and any resulting prosecution will be overseen by a particular district judge of its preference.

12:04Michael Popok:Who could that be? Given the corrosive effect of Judge Shopping on the perceived fairness and impartiality of the criminal justice system, particularly when conducted by a federal prosecutor. Looking at you, Jason, reading, Quinones, we wish to alert the court to the evidence underlying our concern. And as counsel to the identified target of this investigation, we request that your honor carefully consider this evidence and the clear inference of prosecutorial judge shopping as you exercise your supervisory authority over the grand jury. See, she's got the right to intervene in the case and handle the administration of it and reassign it to somebody independent, which is what they are looking for, randomly assign it away from Judge Cannon.

12:47Michael Popok:Not the first time Altonaga has had pressure. When Judge Cannon intervened in the case in the prosecution of Mar-a-Lago against Donald Trump for obstruction of justice, an espionage act, and tried to intervene while the investigation was still ongoing and grand juries were still ongoing, she was slapped back twice by the 11th Circuit, telling her she cannot intervene in the case before it's even an indictment. And there was pressure on Altonaga to take her out of the case, that she'd only been a judge for six months at the time. She had very little experience because of COVID and other reasons.

13:22Michael Popok:And so, you know, she didn't at that time. Not at that time. They go on in the letter. they talked that they say the justice this is the corruption of the department of justice on page three the justice department has surrendered much of its independence to the president is who is directly commanding his attorney general and her leadership team to use their authorities to go after perceived political enemies and then they go through all the eastern district of virginia issues uh about the prosecutors getting fired there it continues about Brennan. The fact that Eastern District of Pennsylvania felt there were no charges against Brennan.

14:07Michael Popok:Eastern District of Virginia did the same thing. There's also a major problem that's raised in the letter, which is the statute of limitations. Most crimes you have to bring within a certain amount of time or they are time barred. Anything that John Brennan did back in 2016 or even 2020 is time barred. We're talking about nine to six years beyond, you know, and the statute of limitations is five years. Then they go over

14:38Michael Popok:actually Judge Cannon herself. Now, again, they don't say she's corrupt. I'll just read it out loud. Page 11. The numerous Judge Cannon's past decisions, the numerous past decisions by Judge Cannon that could reasonably cause the prosecutors to believe that hers would be an accommodating courtroom for an investigation and possible prosecution of President Trump's perceived political adversaries. We don't suggest that the judge would in fact lean in that direction, but the record of her decisions could provide a basis for the prosecutors believing that she would. Then she goes over all the Mar-a-Lago decisions, firing Jack Smith as a special counsel, blocking the release of volume two of the Mar-a-Lago report that he prepared, and the rest, and talks about the corrosive effect of judge shopping.

15:32Michael Popok:Now, Pam Bondi didn't like this letter. But rather than just respond to the letter, she's had time. Even though there was a holiday break in there, you have time. She hasn't filed a response. And when she does, I'll report on it in Midas Touch and Legal AF. But you have a comment that she gives to the media compounding the problem. They just said one of the problems is the Department of Justice is leaking about the grand jury. And what does Pam Bondi do? Pam Bondi comes on with another leak. she comes she says to a a new a news agency called just the news.com public reports of a recent letter sent to the chief judge of the federal district of florida actually she that that's a typo it's the southern district of florida pam pam you're a florida bar member you know better than that by john brendan's defense attorney seeking judicial intervention and any legitimate grand jury investigation by the executive branch shows these bad actors are clearly concerned about their liability and want to preserve a two-tiered system of justice.

16:40Michael Popok:Bad actors? Now you're going after the target of the investigation in press reports? That's a violation of your code of conduct, your rules of professional responsibility, the oath that you've taken, an officer of the court, grand jury secrecy rules under Rule 6 of the federal rules of criminal procedure. Shall I go on? It just shows you, it actually plays in. If I'm the lawyers, if I'm Mr. Weinstein, I send another letter to Altonaga citing to this saying, see, Exhibit B. We'll continue to follow it. I'm Michael Popak. I'm glad you're here on the Midas Touch Network and Legal AF. Slide over to Legal AF and hit the free subscribe button there for the holidays.

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