Trump Capitulates to Pressure…Things Instantly Get Worse

0:00Seriously, why aren't Democrats in Washington doing more to stop Trump? I know. Have you heard about Phil Weiser in Colorado, though? No. 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 Anna Noskezi. This summer, FanDuel is the best place to bet on goals. Including equalizers? Uh-huh. Balls?

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1:55not back on hold six months from now. Visit jerry.ai slash Libsyn today. Seriously, why aren't Democrats in Washington doing more to stop Trump? I know. Have you heard about Phil Weiser in Colorado, though? No. 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, and in Noscazy.

2:30Michael Popok:Well, we can stop the head scratching as to why Jay Clayton, the golf buddy and crony of Donald Trump and currently the Southern District of New York, U.S. attorney, why he went on CNBC in the last couple of days, bashing California at its vote. It's because he's the new nominee to be the Director of National Intelligence. I'm going to talk to you about a close relationship between Donald Trump, Jay Clayton, and Howard Lutnick, and the Sullivan and Cromwell firm that Jay Clayton used to work for, that Donald Trump now uses for his personal attorneys, as does other people in his life like Melania.

3:07Michael Popok:I'm Michael Popak. You're on the Midas Touch Network for just this kind of commentary and reporting. Take a minute, hit the free subscribe button on Legal AF YouTube channel. Let's talk about Jay Clayton. When the Department of Justice under Todd Blanche and Pam Bondi and Emil Bovee made a mess of the U.S. attorney's office in the Southern District of New York when they tried to dismiss the indictment of the mayor for bribery. Then Mayor Adams and nine or 10 prosecutors, including the lead prosecutors, all quit the office. They needed somebody to clean it up, to give an imprimatur of legitimacy to at least in Donald Trump's own backyard of New York have somebody that he could rely on, of course, also somebody that wouldn't prosecute anybody in the Trump family.

3:57Michael Popok:And who comes to the rescue? Send in Jay Clayton. Who's Jay Clayton? Jay Clayton is a non-litigator commercial lawyer who used to work at a firm called Sullivan and Cromwell, very well-known white shoe firm. It was a competitor of one of the firms that I used to work for in New York. I know him well. And I I know Jay reasonably well from, I don't want to say directly, but at least from my prior life. Jay Clayton is a golf buddy of Donald Trump and Howard Lutnick. His dream job was not to be the director of national intelligence or to be the U.S. attorney in New York. His dream job he had in the first Trump administration to be the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

4:40Michael Popok:That sort of fits with his body of work, his education, being a securities and corporate lawyer. He turned down the job to be the attorney general in the first Trump administration because he didn't want the gig. He's really not that qualified for it either. Jay Clayton, however, looks like he came from central casting. He's got the hair. He's got the suit and the tie. He's got the voice. And he's frankly a political hack that will do anything Donald Trump tells him to do. There's no other way to put it out there, but that is the truth. He's a golf buddy of Howard Lutnick and people within his company and has been in the good graces of that small little group that went to the White House together.

5:21Michael Popok:So when he came out of sort of retirement and took over the Southern District of New York office around the time that Donald Trump installed Jeanine Pirro, another political enabler for him in D.C., people were not that surprised. In fact, they talked about putting Jay Clayton in as the U.S. attorney in the first term. He was blocked effectively when Mr. Berman was the U.S. attorney in New York. He wouldn't turn over his files and depart unless it wasn't Jay Clayton, because he was afraid Jay Clayton was going to end up dismissing all of his cases. So we had that going on. That was all already back in the first term.

6:04Michael Popok:Now you've got Jay Clayton and no surprise here to anybody that knows Jay well, goes on CNBC recently and does this. Play the clip. Give me an idea of what's happening in California right now. No, I actually can't, which I think is the problem. You know, you raise this about election integrity, which I think is the point. That's what I'm talking about. I'm watching it, and are any of the things we're hearing about, like thousands of votes all for the same person, is any of that true, or is that just this sort of conspiracy, like 100 % for the socialist candidate versus the others? Is any of that true?

6:48Look, we had a problem, a deep problem with voting in America. We had race-based discrimination around voting. It was identified. We had the Voting Rights Act. It was all about access, making sure that people were not denied access. There was a second element to it, which was election integrity, making sure that once everybody has access, that their vote actually counts, that it's not being diluted by illegal voting or shenanigans and the like. I think we've done a pretty darn good job on access. I don't hear anybody claiming that they don't have access to the ballot box. You hear politicians saying that it's Jim Crow disenfranchised.

7:35No evidence. We have groups dedicated to making sure that people have access. Tons of money dedicated to it. Laws, and laws that my office enforces, other offices enforce, to make sure that people... On the integrity side, we're doing an absolutely terrible job. And the American people are right to question it. How come we can have an audit trail in every other aspect of our lives that's important? People cite getting on planes and the like and things. But, you know, in every time. Here's the issue. California's election law allows ballots postpart by election day to be counted and permit same-day registration.

8:15That means tabulation typically continues for weeks after the vote. You can go 30 days, isn't it? But why is that law there? I get you. I mean, that doesn't sound like fraud. You can argue whether the law makes sense, but that doesn't sound like a fraudulent situation. No, there's a great phrase, opportunity for fraud. Right. One of the things you do in designing laws is reduce the opportunity for fraud without, in this case, reduce the opportunity for fraud while not adversely impacting access. And every time it happens, Jay, it's like, OK, all these are coming in for the next 30 days. Oh, Democrats vote that way.

8:52So it just makes sense that it's 100 percent Democrat. That's where the opportunity comes from. So, yeah, you can have it. Why does it always go that way with the mail-in votes? Why is it always 100 % Democrats are voting in the mail-in? Or why can't you count them like they do in other jurisdictions on the same day as Election Day? Or within a very reasonable time. Well, if you mail them in on Election Day, they're not going to be there on Election Day. Wow. I mean, I got stuff returned to me that I sent out for Christmas by two months later that was coming back in. Why we wait until Election Day for mail-in ballots, I don't know.

9:29But those are questions with the law. It doesn't suggest that there's necessarily fraud here. There's you can have cause for an investigation. But what the governor's office. The vote totals that come in. Becky, I completely agree with you. It's what it does. There's not fraud. I'm just saying there's not necessarily fraud there. What it is, is it makes the opportunity for fraud so much greater when that is not necessary. It is not.

9:52Michael Popok:And people were like, why? What is he doing? In fact, just last night, I was on the air on the midweek edition of Legal AF with Mark Elias, the world class voting rights constitutional litigator. And we talked about Jay Clayton as if we knew something. And here's a clip. The most shameful thing is what the hell is Clayton, the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of York? He was on CNBC saying, yeah, he has concerns. I'm thinking, don't you have enough bank fraud? Don't you have enough crypto schemes with the Trump family going on for you to be paying attention to? What the hell are you opining about California?

10:29Michael Popok:Well, let me use my prior life. Jay Clayton was a notorious golf buddy of Donald Trump and Howard Lutnick back in the day. The reason that Jay Clayton became the head of the SEC is because Howard Lutnick wanted him to be the head of the SEC. He really he they first wanted him to be attorney general in the first administration. He didn't want it. He wanted SEC. This time around, he didn't want to be in the government at all. But when they left the U.S. attorney, the once proud U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan in shambles after the Mayor Adams indictment and Emil Bovee, they needed some adult.

11:08Michael Popok:And he looks like he's from Central Casting, right? He does. He does. He's got the suits, got the voice, but he's a political hack. And he got he they pushed a button like they do with Janine Pirro. He just comes off less greasy and he pushed the button and said, Jay, you got to go on CNBC. You got to shit all over California now. Well, OK, so that's it. Is he a big law guy from New York or what? Yeah, he was a big law guy from New York. And he's not suited for, I think, Berman when he wouldn't leave the office, said out loud, I'm not going to leave the office until I don't want. No, Jake, no, he has no experience.

11:42Michael Popok:He'll dismiss all of my all of my criminal cases. And he does this. He's a reluctant war happy warrior. He doesn't really want the job. And they shove him out to do it. But he does it. I'm not making any excuses for Jay Clayton whatsoever. And to Mark's point, for those that want to go to see the editorial board today, California's excuses are damaging faith in government. We have an important message to share from our friends at Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The Trump administration's excessive Christian nationalist rhetoric is only building as we move toward the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

12:23Michael Popok:AU is highlighting a case involving federal workers caught in the crossfire. A multi-faith group of federal employees filed a new lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture for violating the separation of church and state and the religious freedom promised in our Constitution. Americans United received emails from multiple USDA employees saying the proselytizing Easter email sent by Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins to more than 100 ,000 USDA employees is an abuse of power that violates the separation of church and state promised in the First Amendment. They are absolutely right.

13:02Michael Popok:Government employees signed up to work for the USDA, not attend Brooke Rollins' Sunday service. The Constitution draws a bright line between personal faith and government power. And this lawsuit says she trampled right over it. Well, the hits keep on coming from this administration. And Americans United is doing their best to keep up the fight against Christian nationalism. If you want to help, head to au.org slash legal AF to learn more about their work and how you can get involved. Americans United supporting everyone's right to live as they choose, so long as they don't harm others. That's au.org slash legal AF.

13:46Michael Popok:So now Donald Trump has a friend, a golf buddy, somebody he can rely on. You know, he counts loyalty among all other qualities to run the 17 agency directorate for national intelligence. Let's just repeat this. He has no national intelligence background. The law that created the Office of National Intelligence requires that the person have national intelligence, intelligence community background. Jay Clayton does not. So Trump's going to have to try to convince the Senate and the House to amend it to allow him to take the job, even though he doesn't fit the criteria. you, putting aside his security clearances, which that he could probably get.

14:35Michael Popok:This will appease the MAGA, who have been even opposing Bill Pulte to be the acting part-time head of the intelligence directorate. This is also another example of Trump chickening out because he announced he wanted to use Bill Pulte, the Nepo baby heir to the Pulte construction fortune in the South. They build homes. Who's currently the Freddie May and Fannie Mac head for mortgages. And when everybody freaked out because he's a political hack that's been attacking Donald Trump's political enemies from day one, God forbid he gets all the toys of the intelligence community, including wiretapping to go after Donald Trump's enemies.

15:21Michael Popok:Trump even recoiled from the Pulte nomination and said, well, wait, he's part time and he'll only be firing people. That's what he'll be doing for the next 120 days. But even that was met with a block yesterday by the House, even Mike Johnson led House, to block the reaffirmation, the reauthorization of wiretapping and other surveillance laws that would have inured to the benefit of somebody like Bill Pulte. Now Trump thinks if we put Jay Clayton in, he's already been not confirmed, not confirmed to be a U.S. attorney, but he's been confirmed in the past. He thinks he's got the votes to slide in Jay Clayton, a loyalist golf buddy, to be the head of these 17 intelligence agencies for which he is woefully underqualified.

16:13Michael Popok:But Trump doesn't trust the intelligence community, doesn't like the intelligence community, thinks that they've been spying on him and leaking about him from the very beginning. That's why he's gone after elements of the intelligence community, like John O. Brennan, the former CIA director under Obama, or former FBI director under Donald Trump, James Comey, and others. And so with Clayton now running the show, replacing Tulsi Gabbard effectively, and John Ratcliffe, the head of the CIA, reporting to him, Trump sort of has defanged the office. He hasn't put it out of its misery. He hasn't fired it.

16:56Michael Popok:He hasn't defunded it. But Jay Clayton is not going to be a tenacious operator and spymaster for the United States. You can say a lot of things about Jay Clay, okay? But one of them is not the nation's spymaster, okay? It just shows you that Trump doesn't care about our national security. All he cares about is loyalty. He'll undermine it. There were dozens of people who, from a bipartisan support, would have been great national security or national intelligence directors. And Jay Clayton would not be on anybody's list, not even the second page for that role. So we are less secure by that announcement.

17:42Michael Popok:Here's what Donald Trump had to say about it because, you know, he thinks by social media, he's going to convince his MAGA and others about it. So he posts the following, I am pleased to announce the nomination of a very highly respected Jay Clayton, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the former head of Sullivan and Cromwell, one of the most prominent, successful law firms any in the world. Right. That represent Donald Trump and all of his criminal matters currently. And the current U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, well, not confirmed to be the next director of national intelligence and a member of my cabinet.

18:21Michael Popok:Few people anywhere are as respected at the level of Jay. I encourage the United States Senate to confirm Jay as soon as possible. Thank you for your attention to this matter, President Donald J. Trump. OK, we'll continue to follow it. You've got my view, my insider view of Jay Clayton and why he was picked here on Legal AF and on the Midas Touch Network. Until my next report, this is Michael Popak. 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.

18:58Michael Popok: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. Seriously, why aren't Democrats in Washington doing more to stop Trump? I know. Have you heard about Phil Weiser in Colorado, though? No. Is he different? Yeah. A.G. Weiser sued the Trump administration 65 times. He's beating Trump in court again and again.

19:39Things 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 and in Noscazy.

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