Trump DOJ Humiliated in Minnesota as GOP Judge Shuts Down Scheme

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1:17Michael Popok:Another grand jury in Minnesota come and gone and no report of an indictment against journalist Don Lemon. Because Donald Trump has met his match. His name is Chief Judge Schultz. He's a conservative Federalist Society arch Republican, but he's taking it to the Trump administration like perhaps no other judge has done in the last several months. And after I report on what Judge Schultz told the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in letters that he wrote to the Eighth Circuit about their attempt to indict or arrest Don Lemon, he effectively exonerates Don Lemon. Is there any doubt now why the Trump administration has publicly reported that they are not going to seek arrest warrants against Don Lemon any longer?

2:04Michael Popok:Not from a magistrate judge? Their only gambit left is to try to indict him through a grand jury. But we've had several grand jury days come and go, and still no indictment. I think when I'm done with this hot take, you'll know why. I'm Michael Popak, you're on the Mightest Touch Network and Legal AF. I've been doing this a long time, 35 years. I've never had a situation where a senior district chief judge or any judge in federal court has written letters and emails to an appellate court, not just to present why a certain action shouldn't be taken against them. In this case, Pam Bondi running off improvidently to get a writ of mandamus to compel Judge Schultz to override a magistrate judge and enter and sign off on a criminal complaint on probable cause and enter an arrest warrant against Don Lemon.

3:01Michael Popok:He didn't just go through why he's not going to do that. He didn't just tell the Eighth Circuit in these two letters that the procedure is odd, unprecedented, and unheard of in this district or any other district, that there's been no circumstances where a magistrate judge who sits underneath an Article III judge has denied the probable cause for an arrest warrant and have it overridden by a district court judge. Never. It's not just that. He said he goes further and he effectively exonerates Don Lemon, which will then explain everything that follows, which is several grand juries have come and gone and none of them indicted Don Lemon.

3:42Michael Popok:There's no reports that there's even been a presentation to the grand jury. It may be a secret process, but believe me, we've got boots on the ground and we know what's going on there. So this all stems, you're on the Midas Touch Network and Legal Laugh, by the way. I'm Michael Popak, get the free subscribe button. This all stems from a January 18th protest at the City's Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. That was covered live on Substack live and on YouTube for Don Lemon with about five protesters who went into the church and protested against somebody in the church being affiliated with ICE. And Don was there to record it.

4:23Michael Popok:We know that because he recorded it. We know that because we've seen the YouTube channel. He's a journalist with a producer. He's not a protester. There was no violence. Play a clip. You know, I agree with everybody's freedom to protest. These people have come into our house and they've interrupted our worship. If I was to break into any of their houses uninvited, I would be kicked out ultimately. It's not a good way. They're saying that people are showing up at houses where they're citizens without due process with a battering ram into someone's private property and there's no recourse. This is all part of a much larger dialogue.

5:01On one side are people who watch a previous administration bring 12 million people in over the course of four years. This is another administration's corrective. I think I could actually be sympathetic to some of the things where there have been challenges to compassion and decency. At the same time, these are what are called targeted interventions by ICE to keep the American people safe. If I respectfully may interject here, I've been out reporting on a lot of these, and they're not targeted. There are no warrants signed by a judge. Most of the people that they detain don't have criminal convictions or criminal records.

5:42I'm not going to get into the weeds. But you should know that, though. Don't you think that's part of it? Yes, and I could also show you many opposing sides. I'm not saying it's pretty. This is a part of a much larger dialogue in which one administration caused a great deal of chaos and havoc and danger for American citizens, and another is trying to correct that. Do you believe that? Why do what? Honestly, let me tell you just on the journal. Yes, I want to give you the facts. No, no, no. That's the interesting thing about this is that they won't listen to facts. When you because as a journalist, I am a journalist.

6:17Journalist gives that. And then you start correcting me with facts and don't have you shouldn't hear the facts. Of course, most of the people who are picked up. Will you give me the facts on both sides? That is the facts on both sides. OK, now.

6:31Michael Popok:Now, they then present a few days later, the Department of Justice to a magistrate judge, Judge Micco, affidavits to support eight different criminal complaints. Because until you can get an indictment from a grand jury and you need an arrest warrant, you've got to go prove probable cause to a magistrate judge in federal court. Now, the magistrate judge sits below an Article III judge, district court judge, but has all the power in that arena. and for and for three out of the eight not named Don Lemon and his producer magistrate judge said probable cause looks like it's established go make the arrests okay but he rejected it for Don Lemon and his producer primarily observing properly that these were journalists these were journalists covering the story not not violently making the story well Bonnie didn't like that because it doesn't play within her narrative and that of the administration, right?

7:24Michael Popok:This is an administration that goes after journalists and First Amendment speech makers and commentators, going after the Washington Post reporter, trying to grab up all of her confidential informants and her sources. And here went after Don Lemon. Full disclosure, I know Don, sat next to him at a wedding. I think It was Ben Misalas' wedding, provide us touch, and there we are. Okay. So now we've got this series of letters, which will explain, I believe, why we don't see the government going after Don Lemon. Neither for an arrest warrant, meaning not going through a magistrate process, nor, with ears to the ground, trying to get a grand jury good luck in Minnesota to indict Don Lemon.

8:12Michael Popok:We saw what happened when Donald Trump tries to do these extraordinary, illegal, immoral, abusive power indictments. Letitia James, not only has she, her indictment, New York Attorney General against her for mortgage fraud, twice, twice, once was kicked by a federal judge. The other one, two other times, actually, a grand jury rejected it. That's three times they failed to get an indictment against her. James Comey, boom, indictment dismissed. Aging doesn't hit you all at once. for me it showed up in small ways slower recovery after workouts more stiffness and energy that wasn't as consistent as it used to be that's why i want to share with you qualia senolytic a first of its kind formula at the frontier of what's currently possible in the science of human aging senolytics are a science field revolutionizing aging one big culprit behind that middle-aged feeling can be senescent cells, also called zombie cells, that stick around after they're useful and drain your body's energy and resources, leading to lower energy, slower recovery, and joint discomfort.

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10:00Michael Popok:That's qualialife.com slash LEGALAF for an extra 15 % off your purchase. Your older self will thank you. And thanks to Qualia for sponsoring this episode. So here's what the magistrate judge says after Bondi runs to the Eighth Circuit to try to get the Eighth Circuit to issue what's called a writ of mandamus to compel this district court judge to override the magistrate judge and issue an arrest warrant and sign off on her criminal complaint. They didn't even have the courtesy, apparently, to inform Judge Schultz, chief judge, Republican, that they were going to do this. So the Eighth Circuit wrote to Judge Schultz, who happened to be home, caring for a child, and asked for his opinion about the mandamus.

10:46Michael Popok:And here's what he said. And I think the snarkiness was intended. He says, I received an email from the Eighth Circuit in Ray, United States of America, asking me to file a response at my discretion to the petition for writ of mandamus by 2 p.m. Friday, January 23rd. The judge says, this is the first that I heard of any petition for a writ of mandamus. The United States didn't have the courtesy of giving me a copy. I'm unable to access my documents and they are sealed, apparently even from me. So I have been given about two and a half hours to respond to a mandamus petition that I've not read and cannot read.

11:29Michael Popok:Apparently I'm supposed to guess what the petition is about and guess what the mandamus petition says and then respond. So I will do so. He then says it is unheard of in his district or any other district, and it is unprecedented for the Department of Justice to try to override a magistrate judge and obtain an arrest warrant. The reason why, he says on page two, is likely that if the government does not like the magistrate judge's decision, it can either improve the affidavit, present it again to the same magistrate, or it can present its case to a grand jury and get an indictment. Criminal complaint on probable cause gets cleared by a magistrate judge.

12:10Michael Popok:If it doesn't, you can always take it to an indictment. Okay. They didn't like the fact that the judge was taking so long to rule. He said, I need a few days. And so as a result, they ran in improvidently to ask for that mandamus. And here's what he says about the case. The five, this is on page three. This is basically the exoneration of Don Levin. The five people whom the government seeks to arrest are accused of entering a church, and the worst behavior alleged about any of them is yelling horrible things at the members of the church. None committed any acts of violence. The leaders were arrested.

12:54Michael Popok:And then instead the government is insisting that I do something that, as best I can tell, no district judge in the history of the Eighth Circuit has done. He then continues in a follow-up email to clear Don Lemon. He says, I will respond briefly. The government lumps all eight protesters and says things that are true of some, but not all of them. Two of the five protesters were not protesters at all. Instead, they were a journalist and his producer. That's Don Lemon. There is no evidence that those two engaged in any criminal behavior or conspired to do so. he's challenged judge schultz has challenged the department of justice to go to a grand jury and there's been several grand juries including one on tuesday and yet no one no indication there's been a presentation certainly no return of an indictment got that he's effectively exonerated don lemon can't ask for more than that if you're a defense lawyer 35 years of doing this I've never seen a chief judge step out and effectively put his arms around somebody and exonerate them, which would explain why we now have new reporting that the Department of Justice is not going to go through the magistrate judge to try to get another arrest warrant and another criminal complaint, perhaps supported by additional affidavits approved.

14:11Michael Popok:No, they're going to try potentially, who knows, to indict or do they just walk away? We just saw two major leaders in Trump's cabinet get embarrassed and humiliated basically in the same 24 to 48 hour period. Christine Noem, who had her entire approach to Minneapolis, reworked, sidelined, and revised by Donald Trump. She's out effectively. Greg Bovino, the head of Border Patrol, out. Tom Homan, the alleged bribe-taking border czar, in, reporting directly not to Christine Noem, but to Donald Trump. At the same time, Pam Bondi gets rejected by the Eighth Circuit and by Chief Judge Schultz in Minnesota.

14:57Michael Popok:This follows up on last week when she got rejected and Lindsey Halligan had to resign and disgrace and hasn't been heard from since as a prosecutor. Has no role in the Department of Justice, apparently. These are good things that we're watching, right? This is chief judges who don't even want to be here. You think this Chief Judge Schultz, who's a Federalist Society member, right-wing, arch-conservative, wants to be doing this? No, but he will. Earlier today, he issued an order of possible contempt against Todd Lyons, the head of ICE. He said, either release this one detainee who's been illegally over and in contempt, been held without a bail hearing, without a bond hearing, release him immediately or show up on Friday to tell me why you're not in contempt.

15:43Michael Popok:And then the Trump administration released him. Yeah. Good things happen when you continue to exert pressure, right? This is, right? If you bring the heat, you're going to melt ice. And that's what we're working on right now, folks. Glad you're here on the Midas Touch Network and on Legal AF. Take a minute, hit the free subscribe button here and the same free subscribe button over on Legal AF YouTube channel. So until my next report, I'm 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.

16:18Michael 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. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same premium wireless for$15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today.

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