Trump Blindsided as Meidas Host Skewers him in Court

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1:58No. Is he different? Yeah. A.G. Weiser sued the Trump administration 65 times. He's beating Trump in court again and again. Things like protecting Obamacare against Trump's illegal tariffs. And he even won against Ticketmaster. So he actually gets results. Exactly. As governor, Phil will fight for Colorado. Paid for by Phil Weiser for Colorado Registered Agent, Nia Nandoskese.

2:20Popok:We got some breaking news. Things are heating up in the case of journalist Katie Fang versus Todd Blanche, a case pending before Judge Emmett Sullivan in the District of Columbia. Because Katie's team, led by Public Integrity Project and Brendan Ballew, have filed their final reply in support of their preliminary injunction against Todd Blanche. This is a suit that is meant to stop the spoon feeding, the depraved hiding of documents to the media so that we are ultimately complicit in trying to cover up for Donald Trump because he won't give us the full and complete Epstein files, even though there is a congressional law that orders him to do exactly that.

3:07Popok:And since Pam Bondi threw Todd Blanche under the bus during her closed door testimony and mentioned his name like 93 times, great. He's the proper party here to argue. And the most interesting thing about Katie's new filing is that they argue that in not one word of 22 pages filed by Todd Blanche does he ever deny the allegations lodged against him in the Department of Justice. never denies that victims' names were disclosed, that co-conspirators' names were redacted, that Trump documents were removed, that foreign language documents were just ignored, even though this was an international child sex trafficking ring.

3:59Popok:And Katie Fang's not going to take no for an answer. I had the pleasure of interviewing Katie recently about the lawsuit. I'll bring that to you here as well. I'm Michael Popak. You're on the Midas Touch Network and on Legal AF. Let's get to the new reply brief. Let me read to you from its most powerful moments right at the very beginning, its introduction. The main argument, just to keep in the back of your mind, by the Department of Justice is that Katie doesn't have standing. She doesn't have the type of injury that's required for standing. She's a drive-by plaintiff at best. She could go use the Freedom of Information Act.

4:37Popok:And they do a great job in their briefing to describe Katie's unique injuries, why she has standing for informational injury, what we call informational injury-based standing, because she's not getting the information she needs to do her job. It's having an economic impact on her, of course. But let me read to you from page six, the introduction. acting attorney general blanche's opposition brief runs 22 pages yet blanche does not defend his efforts to comply with the epstein files transparency act on a single one in fact he concedes he has not complied with the epstein transparency act blanche does not defend redacting the names of epstein's associates in salacious emails blanche does not defend redacting the names of potential co-conspirators in Department of Justice documents.

5:27Popok:He does not defend withholding documents containing allegations against President Trump. Blanche does not defend his decision to grant himself an exemption from reviewing and producing foreign language documents and does not defend his failure to publish a redaction log, now more than six months overdue and counting. And to answer the charge made by Blanche that Katie was too late in filing the motion for temporary restraining order, they had a great comeback. It wasn't our fault. You did a data dump of three million pages to try to hide the needles in the haystack. And it took credible journalists this long in order to review it and to come to conclusions, especially when it wasn't done in digital format in that way, wasn't searchable in that way.

6:16Popok:And more importantly, things were missing. I mean, we've seen the video of the Jeffrey Epstein and Donald J. Trump Memorial Library, right? We'll run a B-roll here. How many volumes there are, several thousand volumes. Yeah, journalists and commentators like Katie and me had to go through all that. That's why we were late. And so the government shouldn't be able to benefit from its slow footing of the release of the documents. It goes on. And again, we're going to post this in Legal AF Substack for paid members to review. They say on page 10 that Blanche has conceded that he is violating the act.

6:57Popok:Then they do a great job, I think, destroying the argument that Katie can just use the Freedom of Information Act and get her stuff that way. They can't because you can't get charging documents from the Department of Justice through FOIA. You can't get unredacted items in there that can only come through the Epstein Transparency Act. So the argument here is she has informational injury standing under the Epstein Transparency Act, and she's able to bring it to the court's attention. You ever realize how many customers slipped through the cracks, missed calls, follow ups that never happen? It adds up fast.

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8:20Popok:AI automatically logs calls, generates summaries, and flags next steps so nothing falls through the cracks. And it can even qualify leads or respond after hours so your business stays on even when you're off. Money is on the line. Always say hello with Quo. Try Quo for free. Plus, get 20 % off your first six months when you go to Quo.com slash Legal AF. That's q-u-o dot com slash legal a-f. Let me show you, before I get to Judge Emmett Sullivan about this case, let me show you the interview that I did with Katie Fang about this particular lawsuit. I think you'll find it fascinating, especially if you don't know Katie already.

9:02Popok:Here's a clip. What is it that you want the judge to do with a stroke of a pen? In the immediate sense, the granting of my motion for preliminary injunction, which would force the Department of Justice to address some of the most egregious violations on the face of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. One example that has escaped everybody's notice that we've brought up is the fact that Blanche admitted at the end of January that they never even bothered to translate the foreign language documents, which is just mind boggling. Because as you said, this is a multi-decade international sex trafficking ring.

9:42So what is the excuse for them not doing it? he said it wasn't practicable. Whatever. The point is, I would like the judge to immediately grant the PI and give me access to illegally redacted names, email addresses, the names of the co-defendants. I also would like the FBI interview notes for the Donald Trump allegger, the accuser. She was, you know, alleged to have only been 13 years old when she was sexually battered and physically abused by Donald Trump.

10:15Popok:Now, this is all going to come spilling out into the open during a hearing on the 30th of June, right around the corner in Judge Sullivan's courtroom. Judge Sullivan is no nonsense. He doesn't suffer fools. You better come prepared. But the major argument here is going to be about standing. Because if they find that Katie doesn't have standing or no one has standing under the Epstein files, maybe not even a survivor or a victim, then the Department of Justice can get away with it without repercussion. because they'll argue that no federal court has jurisdiction over them, because no plaintiff has proper standing to bring a case.

10:56Popok:They've made similar arguments in the ballroom case. No one, they say, has the ability to stop Donald Trump from effectively bulldozing and knocking over with a wrecking ball the White House. No one. And if no one has standing, then the courts can't have jurisdiction. And if the courts don't have jurisdiction, then they can't make a ruling or an order of oversight over Donald Trump. So don't worry about the appellate courts or the Supreme Court, because it never gets out of the starting blocks in a federal district court. That's the argument that Trump's raising time and time again, whether it's the reflecting pool, or it's the golf course, or it's the monument, or the ballroom, or the UFC fight, or here, the failure to comply with the Epstein Act.

11:40Popok:You can't catch me if you can, because you don't have standing. I think Judge Sullivan is going to look very hard and try to find a way to thread the needle to give Katie Fang standing. I really do. And then have the case on the merits be decided as to whether there is, because that's the first hurdle. Second hurdle is her proving legally that she has a private right of action. Not only does she have injury, but she can sue under the Epstein Act. And then she'll have to thread that needle. And then once she does both of those two things, I think we're off and running about the merits of the case.

12:13Popok:So I'm proud to be a friend of Katie's. And full disclosure, of course, here on the Midas Touch Network, take a moment, hit the free subscribe button, not only here, but over on Legal AF YouTube channel. And we'll be posting her filings and updates up on Legal AF Substack. One programming note, the lawyer and legal team that's representing Katie Fang, because of course, she doesn't want to violate the old saying that a lawyer who represents himself as a fool for a client. So she has confident and great counsel in Brendan Ballew with the Public Integrity Project. And I will have him on Legal AF YouTube this week for an exclusive briefing about this case, a case he's handling about stopping the UFC fight from being on the South Lawn of the White House and desecrating the memory of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial.

13:04Popok:And he's also handling a case involving two Jan 6th officers against the Anti-Weaponization Fund. A fascinating interview of Brendan Ballew. You won't want to miss it. With me, Michael Popak, over on Legal AF YouTube channel. So until my next report, this is Michael. Can't get your fill of Legal AF? Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF Substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing 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.

13:39Popok: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.