Trump DOJ Put in Their Place as Arraignment Goes Horribly

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1:46Michael Popok:I've litigated in state and federal courts across America for most of my career, Yet I found shocking what just happened to Lindsay Halligan at the arraignment of former FBI director James Comey. She was completely outmatched. Not only that, she was dumbfounded and mute. She didn't say a word during the arraignment. In fact, people that were in the room, court observers, said that she spent the entirety of the arraignment rocking back and forth in her seat and nodding. It looks like she's practicing to get into the fetal position. I mean, if I was up against six foot eight James Comey, former FBI director, former the U.S.

2:29Michael Popok:attorney for the Southern District of New York, and his lawyer, Pat Fitzgerald, former U.S. attorney in Chicago for the Northern District of Illinois, I'd be rocking myself for comfort back and forth as well. And she brought with her a couple of security blankets, two prosecutors that got the short straw. She couldn't get anyone to prosecute the case from her own office, the Eastern District of Virginia. They had to bring in two people, Mr. Lemons and his companion from North Carolina, to litigate in front of Judge Nakmanoff, a Biden appointee, who set a, you want to hear about Rocket Docket in Eastern District of Virginia?

3:10Michael Popok:you. We're going to trial in less than three months in the Comey case. And that's all to James Comey's advantage. I'm glad you're here with me, Michael Popak, on Midas Touch and on Legal AF. Let's crack our knuckles and get into what happened. I'm all dressed up for this particular hot take. That and I had a court appearance earlier this morning. So let's get into it. James Comey's arraigned. And if you're looking for footage of the perp walk that was threatened, you can stop looking. They didn't do the perp walk. First of all, they didn't really have an arrest warrant for him. He had a summons to appear.

3:46Michael Popok:And a case like this, white collar, one count of perjury, lied about something eight, nine, 10 years ago. Nobody can figure it out from the indictment. That's a problem I'll cover. That's a self-surrender. You arrange with your lawyers and the FBI to like go in, surrender. We'll see you at the courthouse, released on your own recognizance and we're done. So when I heard the threats of the perp walk and Kash Patel whining, what is it with this administration and whining? Whining about, oh, you simps over at MSNBC now, whatever it's called, complaining about, you know, a perp walk. We have every right to do it.

4:27Michael Popok:No, you don't. The Department of Justice manual says that you can't use publicity like that to abuse the rights of somebody who's presumed innocent. You don't do perp walks unless you have to, unless it serves a legitimate law enforcement purpose and not to embarrass somebody who's innocent until proven guilty. But it didn't happen because I have a theory. And one day if I bump into Pat Fitzgerald, the lawyer for James Comey, I'm going to ask him. I think they called their bluff. I think they said, you want to do a perp walk? Just tell us where and when. We're going to have a video camera crew out in front of James Comey's house starting today, 24 hours until the arraignment, because we want to get our own video and all the camera angles.

5:16Michael Popok:And we'll have our guy miked for the perp walk you want to do with quote unquote big beefy FBI agents and with try to embarrass our client, because we're going to be using it for our motion practice, you know, our motion to dismiss for vindictive prosecution. So bring it. And then we had Taco Tuesday, right? Trump always chickens out, chickens out, no perp walk. And I'm sure Trump was told that there wasn't going to be one. He's so big. Right now, Donald Trump's so consumed with trying to win the Nobel Peace Prize as if it's something you can campaign for. I mean, they've got, I don't know, another day.

5:56Michael Popok:It's announced tomorrow. It's announced on the 10th. So they're campaigning left and right about Israel and Gaza and this and that. So he can't be bothered with what's going on anymore with James Comey. He's already lost interest with that play thing. Now, fast forward, we get the judge assignment. Judge Nakmanoff, Eastern District of Virginia. Great judge. Biden appointee. Used to be a federal public defender. Knows the U.S. attorneys off as well. was probably already had an arched eyebrow when no one from the Eastern District of Virginia prosecutor's office came into his courtroom. You know, this is where they ply their trade.

6:34Michael Popok:Instead, a couple of carpetbaggers from North Carolina show up. Hello, Your Honor, Mr. Lemons. I'm going to have to be sworn in here because I'm not already a member of the bar. Great start. Half an hour arraignment. Maknakov pushed this pedal to the metal unless the defendant waives his right to speedy trial which they were never going to do this case goes to trial when the judge says it's it's going to trial it's going to trial January 5 20 to case you're wondering 2026 three months that's that's advantage Comey and Fitzgerald because the government has an obligation and they have very little time now, maybe less than a month, to get together, weeks, all of the exculpatory information and evidence, including those leaky memos, that can help the defense.

7:30And so all that's got to be turned over, usually called something like Brady material,

7:36Michael Popok:named after a famous case. So all the memos we've been hearing about that have leaked out, Oh, John Durham was interviewed. Okay. John Durham was interviewed, the former special counsel, for four years. He spent tens of millions of dollars going after everybody. He said, no, I didn't go after Comey because there's no perjury there. The perjury, again, to remind people that are joining this story late, is alleged that in 2020, September 5, 2020, while James Comey was testifying before the Senate, We think the indictment relates to a Q &A between Cruz, Senator Cruz and Comey about a statement that he made, Comey made for five years earlier in 2017 about a leak in 2016.

8:26Michael Popok:You see the problem here at at the Washington Post, which he swears he did not authorize and that his number two, Andy McCabe, the FBI director, says he did it. So let me play a clip, though, of what we think is the Cruz Comey exchange at the heart of the indictment. Play it. Did Russian assets. All right. Let's shift to another topic on May 3rd, 2017. In this committee, Chairman Grassley asked you point blank, quote, have you ever been an anonymous source in news reports about matters relating to the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation? You responded under oath, quote, never. He then asked you, quote, have you ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about the Trump investigation or the Clinton administration?

9:16You responded again under oath, no. Now, as you know, Mr. McCabe, who works for you, has publicly and repeatedly stated that he leaked information to the Wall Street Journal and that you were directly aware of it and that you directly authorized it. Now, what Mr. McCabe is saying and what you testified to this committee cannot both be true. One or the other is false. Who's telling the truth? I can only speak to my testimony. I stand by the testimony you summarized that I gave in May of 2017. So your testimony is you've never authorized anyone to leak. And Mr. McCabe, if he says contrary, is not telling the truth.

9:59Is that correct? Again, I'm not going to characterize Andy's testimony, but mine is the same today. All right, I'm going to make a final point because my time has expired. This investigation of the president was corrupt. The FBI and the Department of Justice were politicized and weaponized. and in my opinion there are only two possibilities that you were deliberately corrupt or woefully incompetent and i don't believe you were incompetent this has done severe damage to the professionals and the honorable men and women at the fbi because law enforcement should not be used as a political weapon and that is the legacy you've left now fitzgerald comes into court and says we can't make

10:44Michael Popok:heads or tails of the indictment, as I said. It is woefully deficient on its face. We don't know who person one is. We don't know who person two is. We don't know who person three is. We're not even sure if that's the right clip of Cruz. What is it about fall that just opens up life? The weather is perfect for getting outside. The leaves are changing. And suddenly there are more moments to enjoy. Festive gatherings, upcoming holidays, and just more time to hang with friends and family. Personally, I'm looking forward to cozy nights with good food and even better company. And with fall in full swing, more moments call for comfort you can count on.

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13:28Michael Popok:All that gets turned over to the defense. It's all going to form the basis of the motion to dismiss for vindictive prosecution, plain and simple. And the government's got to get all that stuff together in a short amount of time. Now we've got new reporting, which will be to the benefit and strength in the hands of James Comey, that the key witness that was evaluated, Daniel Richman, a law professor at Columbia, who worked under James Comey at the Southern District of New York as a prosecutor, but now a law professor at Columbia and a special advisor, policy advisor to Comey, that the prosecutors evaluated him and thought that his testimony would prevent insurmountable hurdles to getting a perjury charge sustained against Comey.

14:14Michael Popok:Just to remind you of who, or for the first time, here's Professor Richman several years ago on Fox. Let's play the clip. Professor Daniel Richman, he's also a policy advisor to FBI Director James Comey. Great to see you, Professor. Thank you for being here. Thank you. It's good to be here. So you know Comey. You've known him for a long time. He used to practice law together. Yes. Okay. And you say he's a straight shooter and you're a friend of his and an advisor of sorts. What do you make of the piling on now, Nancy Pelosi in particular? Like, maybe he can't do the job. Maybe it's time for a change.

14:46What people seem to forget is that whatever he did would have political ramifications. Either you stay silent and don't correct what people seem to think, which was that an investigation was complete, and you let that thought go to people as they, let's say, vote, or maybe let's say as they move into running the government next year, or you speak. And you speak as little as possible. I don't think he's unaware of the fact that there's an election going on. I don't think he's trying to influence election. But either silence or speaking is going to implicate the election. And he's aware of that and did what he felt he had to do.

15:26Do you is this hard on him? Do you think I mean, he's a human being. He seems like a real sort of Joe Friday kind of law enforcement official. But is this hard on him to have this much pile on, including today from the president? We don't deal in innuendo. We don't deal in leaks. I think Jim is used to being piled on. That comes with the territory. I also I don't read what what the president said is as part of the piling on. Frankly, I think what the president said is people thought the investigation was complete. It turns out the president was wrong on that. There is an investigation that was said to have been complete, but is going on.

16:03And that's all that the director said. OK.

16:09Michael Popok:And Andy McCabe has already taken the blame for it. He's already said, I'm the one, nobody's talked to me, but I'm the one that talked to the Washington Post, not him. So how are they ever going to get this indictment to stick? There may be a superseding indictment where they try to fix some of these problems off this hearing, but they're not going to be able to grow a brain or ethics in the meantime. We're watching prosecutorial abuse writ large on national television. And we'll follow it all for you with all the updates. The next thing that's out of the box, and follow me on Legal AF YouTube channel or Legal AF Substack and you'll get the reporting.

16:45Michael Popok:The next thing out of the box is going to be the motion to dismiss for vindictive prosecution. It's coming. It could be any minute now. In the coming days, they're not going to wait around on this. They're going to clear Comey's name. They're going to draw a line in the sand. They're going to file that motion to dismiss for a vindictive prosecution. And sometime in later October or beginning of November, we're going to have a hearing on that. This case may never get to trial in January. I'm sure that's what Judge Nachmanov knew when he set a very fast trial. I'm continuing to follow it all here on Midas Dutch and Legal AF.

17:18Michael Popok:Take a moment, hit the subscribe button here. Come over to Legal AF, the YouTube channel. Do the exact same thing there. And join us on Legal AF Substack, where when I get the motion to dismiss for vindictive prosecution, I will post it there for you to read it. So until my next report, I'm Michael Popak.

17:38Michael Popok:sub stack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the sub stack. 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 sub stack. Come over now to free subscribe.

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