In short
The episode argues that Donald Trump’s proposed “Memorial Circle” triumphal arch in Washington, D.C. is being turned into a militarized, highly flammable ammunition/drone depot rather than a beautification project. The host claims Trump’s announcement contradicts a court filing by the National Park Service describing only “small-scale temporary geoarchaeological” borings to prepare for construction, and that the plan could endanger the public near Arlington National Cemetery and the Pentagon. Key examples cited include storing “large quantities” of sniper ammunition and using long-range snipers from the arch, plus comparisons to the “ballroom” project.
Guests
none mentioned in the transcript.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOTrump's Proposal for the Arch
0:00 to 2:24
Discussing Trump's controversial idea to store military supplies at a proposed arch site.
“Donald Trump can't keep his notes straight for the 250-foot monstrosity on Memorial Circle in the middle of Washington, D.C.”
Concerns About the Arch's Location
2:24 to 5:10
Explaining the implications of the arch's location and potential risks.
“I mean, I can't keep starting every hot take with the dumbest idea ever, can I?”
Legal and Regulatory Issues
5:10 to 8:12
Analyzing the legal ramifications and court orders related to the arch's construction.
“And when the Pentagon was reached, who's just a three minute drive away from this memorial circle.”
Criticism and Public Reaction
8:12 to 12:12
Highlighting the backlash and criticism surrounding Trump's arch proposal.
“Aaron Reichlin Melnick, he said, for those who don't live around here, we'll put it up on the screen.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Michael Popok:Donald Trump can't keep his notes straight for the 250-foot monstrosity on Memorial Circle in the middle of Washington, D.C. That 250-foot arch, he can't keep his notes straight. Because just hours after his lawyers filed the required notice with Judge Chutkin, yes, the same judge that presided over Donald Trump's criminal interference case brought by Jack Smith after 2020, That judge, after they filed their notice saying, we're about to start some geo-archeological investigations. We're going to do some dirt boring and some drilling around to prepare the memorial circle for the arch in a lawsuit brought by veterans who don't want that memorial circle desecrated.
0:51Michael Popok:or Arlington Cemetery or the Lincoln Memorial desecrated by this 250-foot arch just hours after they filed a notice that says we're just going to be doing some boring drilling into dirt and other things. Donald Trump on Sunday says, hey, I got a great idea. I'm going to store drones and ammunition in the middle of a traffic circle of an artery that dominates DC. That's where I am going to store ammunition. That's where I'm going to store. I'm going to convert the sound familiar. I'm going to convert the arch like I converted the ballroom into a drone airport. Notwithstanding the fact that the Pentagon is three miles away and there is an active military base adjacent to Arlington Cemetery within a stone's throw of this location.
1:53Michael Popok:So in the middle of a heavily trafficked traffic circle, they're going to be storing ammunition and drones. so that Donald Trump can say that it's not a beautification project, which he's been saying all along. It's a military industrial complex that has to be built in Washington. And now there's been a new filing of another temporary restraining order by that veterans group to stop it in its tracks. I'm Michael Popok. I mean, I can't keep starting every hot take with the dumbest idea ever, can I? you're on Legal AF. If you like our content, follow us, support us, and hit that free subscribe button.
2:40Michael Popok:Okay. The Arch as planned, and we'll put up some sketches of it while I'm talking, is 250 feet high. The circle currently has nothing on it. It was constructed to provide vistas to show unity after the civil war of the Arlington House, Arlington Memorial Cemetery, and the Lincoln Memorial. This now obscures that view. And if you're now going to be able to sit at the top of the arch, the arch will now be peering over grieving families at Arlington, which is why the veterans brought this particular lawsuit. The arch is two times the size of the Lincoln Memorial. We don't need an arch. It's not like it was on the plans for the city that never got done.
3:30Michael Popok:This is something out of Donald Trump's fevered imagination to put his name on another monument. Besides the fact that it will likely interfere with the FAA and planes flying over, Why do you need a now fully armed, militarized, ammunition filled, meaning what could go wrong in terms of exploding? So now what? Our enemy only has to hit a 250 foot arch? It will explode on contact and destroy everything for miles in its radius? Didn't we just commemorate and memorialize once again the 25th anniversary of 9-11? Didn't we watch planes fly into two giant towers that are no longer there along with the people that were inside?
4:21Michael Popok:And we think this guy thinks, this president thinks that it's a good idea in order to get his arch approved to militarize it. So here's what some people are saying exactly about this ridiculous idea. First, let me give you the announcement. He announces that he's going to convert the arch into a, this is Donald Trump's language from Sunday, a top grade military complex triumphal arch to store house, house store and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones plus snipers on both the roof and plaza areas. They better be long range snipers and additionally have and hold large quantities of sniper ammunition in storage.
5:10Michael Popok:What could go wrong? And when the Pentagon was reached, who's just a three minute drive away from this memorial circle. I know I get it's an office building, but why are we storing exploding ammunition so close to the Pentagon? This is like our enemy's wet dream. When the Pentagon was reached for it, they were caught with their pants down because, of course, I'm sure they didn't know anything about it. And they said there's no information other than the president's statement. I'm not surprised. Trump saying the military is making me do it, folks, just like the ballroom suddenly went from we need a ballroom because women are getting their heels stuck in the grass when we put up tents.
5:52Michael Popok:that's what he said originally, to it needs to be a hardened military facility because we're putting a military industrial hospital complex under the White House. Remember how that flipped on its head? And now you've got the notice, which I'm going to read to you, which has been filed by the National Park Service on behalf of Donald Trump and all the defendants just before Donald Trump effed it up with his announcement that he's making it into an ammunition depot. You're going to make it into the armory, apparently. Although the court's minute order, which issued on September 4th, says the filing, and was clarified on September 17th, does not require this notice, I believe it does, defendants respectfully provide this notice of upcoming activity on or near Memorial Circle.
6:39Michael Popok:They will be doing small-scale temporary geoarchaeological investigation involving discrete borings within Memorial Circle. The work would consist of nine geoarchaeological borings distributed within the interior of Memorial Circle. See, what they're trying to figure out is if the ground, the earth can support a 250-foot arch hardened facility now filled with ammunition and drones. You know, not every earth can hold up that kind of structure, if you know what I mean. No mention of Donald Trump's militarized complex, which is now going to be called an arch. You see, that's not anywhere to be found.
7:21So they're already lying to the federal judge. The federal judge who is Judge Chutkin against Tanya, again, Tanya Chutkin, who presided over the Jack Smith election interference prosecution of Donald Trump. She had this to say in her order. She said, as part of a clarification to remove what little doubt may exist. She said this yesterday. The order is hereby clarified. The words, any activity apply only to activities related to or in preparation for the construction of an arch on Memorial Circle. That's exactly what they're doing. I mean, Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, just announced we're starting the construction.
8:07What does he think we thought that meant? So here's what, of course, this is getting roundly attacked and abused in mainstream media and social media. Ron Filipkowski here of Midas Touch said, just like with the ballroom, another scam by Trump to turn this into a military complex to prevent the courts from intervening by using national security as his excuse for vanity projects. Aaron Reichlin Melnick, he said, for those who don't live around here, we'll put it up on the screen. Here's how stupid this idea is. The arch is planned for a traffic circle within spitting distance of the Pentagon. The idea of storing ammunition and drones there and not the Pentagon, which is three minutes away, is beyond dumb.
8:57He then shows where it's located. Now, somebody wrote after that, well, why would you store ammunition in an office building, which effectively is the Pentagon. I sort of get that point. But Reikland Melnick wrote back and said his following, why would we store ammunition inside of a tourist attraction, Memorial Arch, built inside a traffic circle? Not to mention there is a large military base on the other side of Arlington, in particular at the Joint Base Meyer Henderson Hall, which is next to Arlington National Cemetery. And all of this, of course, is because we've got a combination of Donald Trump and everybody in his administration all excited about this triumphal arch.
9:48I mean, when you have Doug Burgum, who just announced, we're pleased to announce that after a very long wait, 125 years, we're preparing to start the excavation work necessary for the great triumphal arch and military observation deck at Memorial Circle on Columbia Island between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. That's the point. It's between vista-wise. It blocks the view. Now we need an arch looming over grieving families without proper approval. It's time for Judge Chutkin. Much the way Judge Leon initially blocked the ballroom construction until the Supreme Court gave it to Donald Trump five to four.
10:31Much like Chris Cooper, the federal judge, is blocking Donald Trump from putting his name and scarring the memory of John F. Kennedy on the Kennedy Center, Judge Chutkin's got to take control of this matter and start issuing temporary restraining orders to stop the construction of a unapproved, not congressionally approved ammunition depot, drone depot in the middle of a traffic circle overlooking the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. I mean, we understand that Donald Trump will go to any lengths to get this arch up and running, even if it means hardening it into a military complex filled with flammable ammunition.
11:21But again, this is like our enemies, they must be celebrating, they must be popping champagne corks. All they got to do now is nail one triumphal arch. What a target in the middle of Washington and all those populations of people in tourists and have it explode into thin air. One of the reasons why the World Trade Center came down, besides its design so quickly after being hit by two jet liners filled with jet fuel and the heated temperatures related to that, was because of things that were stored in the basement. And it also, that's where the police put their command and control center for Lower Manhattan.
12:09So we're going to just make it easy on them. We're going to just give our enemies, the terrorists, flying planes or otherwise, the dynamite and light the fuse for them? Just shows you how not only depraved but mentally unstable Donald Trump is that he would even think to do this in order to try to win a legal argument in court, one that his own lawyers don't even back. You know, we've got the lawyers here, Adam Gustafson, the principal deputy assistant attorney general, people from the Energy and National Resource Division of the Department of Justice. They got to sign these things and then they got to watch as their client says, I got a great idea.
12:52Let's light up D.C. like a Roman candle. We're going to continue to follow it. I'm going to try to get the lawyers who are handling this case on with me on Legal AF to talk about it further. and we'll continue to follow what happens. We're going to be moving quickly from the Kennedy Center and the ballroom over to the Triumphal Arch, folks. You better get ready. And I hope that you're going to support our work here on Legal AF by hitting the free subscribe button. Until my additional work in about an hour, you're on Legal AF and I am Michael Popak. Can't get your fill of Legal AF? Me neither.
13:25Michael Popok: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. 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. Thank you.
From the publisher
Popok reports on new signs of Trump's dementia, as he tries to save his "Triumphal Arch" from certain doom, by converting it into a FLAMMABLE MUNITIONS and DRONE DEPOT in the middle of a heavily trafficked traffic circle filled with tourists and commuters, every terrorists wet dream as a target.
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