Trump Instantly Outmaneuvered with Troops Lawsuit

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0:51Ben Meiselas:I'm R.J. Decker, a private investigator uncovering the sunshine state's darkest secrets.

0:58Michael Popok:Tuesdays, it's the premiere of ABC's hottest new crime show.

1:02Ben Meiselas:R.J. freaking Decker as I live and breathe. He's a private eye. It's not a standard murder. It's someone bigger. And a public mess.

1:09Michael Popok:Trying to get someone back to prison today?

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2:15Michael Popok:The Democratic National Committee is not waiting around to see what military guard, national guard, ICE Guard, Border Patrol that Donald Trump sends in violation of federal law to polling places at the midterms. Oh, no. They've already filed their lawsuit because the Trump administration, Department of Defense, National Guard Bureau, Department of Justice, FBI have refused to respond to 11 different Freedom of Information Act requests. That's how this starts. Tell us your plans. Tell us what plans you have to put federalized troops, Donald Trump shock troops, in and around polling places to scare the crap out of people and try to suppress and steal the vote.

3:00Michael Popok:The suit just got filed. And we're here on Tuesday, of course, on Midas Touch and Legal AF to break it down for you. This should come as no surprise to the Trump administration. Donald Trump has been, I don't know what the right term is, bragging about federalizing, taking over the state's role under the Constitution to run federal elections. He's threatened to use the military troops and has used military troops and federalized forces against the American people, many of them leading to their being maimed, injured or killed. He has bragged in a, who could forget him bragging before the military brass they brought together at Quantico, where they brought all the military generals and admirals together about, hey, you should use this as practice going into cities and trying to suppress First Amendment rights.

3:59Michael Popok:Use it as practice for your military. Remember that clip?

4:02Ben Meiselas:Play it. I told Pete we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military national guard but military because we're going into chicago version that's a big city with an incompetent governor stupid governor stupid they threw him out of his family business he was so stupid i know the family he becomes governor he's got money not money that he made but he ran for governor he won and now he criticizes us all the time last week they had 11 people murdered, 44 people shot. The week before that, they had five people murdered, 28 people shot. Every weekend, they lose five, six.

4:44Ben Meiselas:If they lose five, they're considering a great week. They shouldn't lose any. You shouldn't lose any. This is civilization. And he's always up there saying, we're in very good shape. We don't need the military. No, they need the military desperately. How about Portland? Portland, Oregon, where it looks like a war zone. And I get a call from the liberal governor. Sir, please don't come in. We don't need you. I said, well, unless they're playing false tapes, this looked like World War II. Your place is burning down. I mean, you must be kidding. Sir, we have it under control. I said, you don't have it under control, governor, but I'll check it.

5:27Ben Meiselas:And I'll call you back. I called her back. I said, this place is a nightmare. It's probably, it's certainly not the biggest, but it's one of the worst. It's brutal. They go after our ICE people who are great patriots and tough job too, but they love it. They love it because they're cleaning up our country.

5:47Michael Popok:And then you've got people in the administration, like Carolyn Levitt, the press secretary, who refused to rule out that they would have an ICE agent lurking around the corner of every polling place. Let's play that clip.

6:02Ben Meiselas:Steve Bannon recently said, quote, we're going to have ICE around the polls come November. Is that something that the president is considering? That's not something I've ever heard the president consider, no. Can you guarantee to the American public that ICE will not be around polling locations or voting locations in November? I can't guarantee that an ICE agent won't be around a polling location in November. I mean, that's frankly a very silly hypothetical question. But what I can tell you is I haven't heard the president discuss any formal plans to put ICE outside of polling locations. It's a disingenuous question.

6:38Michael Popok:Now, there's a law on the books, directly on the books. It's called 18, United States Code 592. And here's what it has to say about troops, troops at the polls. Whoever, being an officer of the Army or Navy or another person in the civil, military, or naval service of the United States, who orders, brings, keeps, or under his authority or control any troops or armed men in any place where a general or special election is held, unless necessary to repel armed enemies of the U.S. shall be fined or imprisoned up to five years. This is directed at the officers of the military, not Donald Trump as commander in chief, which is consistent.

7:26Michael Popok:Remember when six different members of Congress who were in the military were trying to speak to these very same officers about their obligation, constitutional obligation, not to follow unconstitutional orders or illegal orders like Donald Trump telling them to go stand in polling places when the law says they cannot. Here's a clip of that. A don't give up the ship reminder, which is consistent, of course, with federal law. Play it.

7:55Ben Meiselas:I'm Senator Alyssa Slotkin. Senator Mark Kelly. Representative Chris Deluzio. Congressman Maddie Goodlander. Representative Chrissy Houlihan. Congressman Jason Crowe. I was a captain in the United States Navy. Former CIA officer. Former Navy. Former paratrooper and army ranger. Former intelligence officer. Former air force. We want to speak directly to members of the military. And the intelligence community. Who take risks each day. To keep Americans safe. We know you are under enormous stress and pressure right now. Americans trust their military. But that trust is at risk. This administration is pitting our uniformed military.

8:29Ben Meiselas:And intelligence community professionals. Against American citizens. Like us, you all swore an oath. To protect and defend this constitution. Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren't just coming from abroad, but from right here at home. Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders. You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution. We know this is hard. And that it's a difficult time to be a public servant. But whether you're serving in the CIA, the Army, or Navy, the Air Force, your vigilance is critical.

9:03Ben Meiselas:And know that we have your back. because now more than ever, the American people need you. We need you to stand up for our laws, our constitution, and who we are as Americans. Don't give up. Don't give up. Don't give up. Don't give up the ship.

9:24Michael Popok:Now, let's look at the lawsuit. In the lawsuit, which is a complaint for injunctive relief, the Democratic National Committee sues the U.S. Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense. They made 11 separate requests starting in October. Particularly, here's what they are seeking. To the Federal Bureau of Investigation, on October 17th, they sent a FOIA request, Freedom of Information Act request related to the deployment of DOJ, Department of Justice personnel with criminal law enforcement responsibilities to polling places, ballot drop boxes or election offices between the start of early voting and the completion of election certification.

10:12Michael Popok:We're watching them now seizing ballots in Georgia through the FBI and phony warrants, trying to do the same thing in Arizona. Of course, there is a colorable argument that they're planning to do this now. They sent a similar request to the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. They sent a similar request to the Criminal Division, to the Office of Information Policy of the Department of Justice, to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, to the Federal Protective Service, to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to Homeland Security, all almost identical, to the Department of Defense, Northern Command, the National Guard Bureau, its headquarters, and the like.

11:02Michael Popok:And what they want the judge to do is to declare that there's been a violation of the Freedom of Information Act and require that these documents be provided. Now, look, if they don't exist, they don't exist. But you know, There's chatter within these departments about mobilizing the troops to scare the crap out of voters, primarily Democrat and independents. Donald Trump just got through calling voters fools yesterday. He said, if you're worried about gas prices going up because of my bombing Iran and starting a war with Iran, you're a fool. That's a great way. Always going to talk down to your constituency and tell them they were fools for voting for you.

11:45Michael Popok:So they want an order that the defendants conduct searches for all those responsive documents, that they provide them in a timely way. Then what's going to happen here? They are going to use this information and use it to bring substantive lawsuits and seek injunctive relief to get orders from judges in advance of the midterms to prevent the military from being used as props, scare tactics, scarecrows to scare away voters. Well, this episode is brought to you by IQ Bar, our exclusive snack, hydration, and coffee sponsor. IQ Bar protein bars, IQ Mix hydration mixes, and IQ Joe mushroom coffees are the delicious, low-sugar brain and body fuel you need to win your day.

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13:18Michael Popok:IQ Bar has become part of my daily routine, starting my morning with IQ Joe or grabbing an IQ Bar when I need a clean boost. And right now, IQ Bar is offering our special podcast listeners 20 % off all IQ Bar products, including the ultimate sampler pack, plus free shipping to get your 20 % off. Text LEGALAF to 64000. Text Legal AF to 64000. That's Legal AF to 64000. Message and data rates may apply. See terms for details. What are we watching? Let's just take a step back for a moment. We are watching a party who is so depraved, who is so criminal, that is so immoral, at least with his leadership, that it believes it cannot win an election fair and square.

14:08Michael Popok:It needs to steal your vote, make it hard for you to vote, set up barriers to you voting, stop you from mail-in voting, dropbox voting, limit the different paths to voting, the time period to vote, the days and hours to vote, the locations to vote, make it harder and harder and harder. Why? Because the harder they make it for you to vote, they think the less likely you are to vote. And if they limit voting, they may be able to win. Because the more people that vote, which is what the Democrats want, we want lower, not, we don't want fraud. We just want lower barriers to entry, right? Dropbox voting, absentee voting, early voting, early dropbox voting, right?

14:55Overseas ballot voting, extended hours for early voting.

15:00Michael Popok:We want all of that because when that happens and people vote, Democrats win. So sometimes we call it suppress the vote, but it's better to think about it like they're trying to steal your vote. When Trump can't steal your vote that way, he tries to steal your vote through representation in how the maps are drawn for each congressional seat. Because as you know, we are an electoral college elects our president and our congressional seats are divided by population and drawn by the legislature or committees. And Donald Trump has tried hard to change the laws of voting and how maps are drawn in order to get a 20 or 30 seat advantage before we even start the election.

15:49Michael Popok:stealing 20 or 30 congressional representations of seats away from you. You know who's not doing any of those things? Democrats. The Democrats want more. You want more ballots, more ballot boxes? We do too. You want more hours for voting? We do too. You want more ability to mail in ballot? We do too. Right? You want to make it easier to vote, not fraudulently, just easier to vote legally? Yes, we do too. Who's the party that doesn't want that? Trump's party. Why? Because he's scared of voting. He's scared of you. He's scared of us. So he wants less of us to vote. And if he can't do it by stealing our votes, if he can't do it by stealing our congressional seats, he's going to try to scare the crap out of us on the last day by putting ICE and Border Patrol and the military and run tanks by and maybe do flyovers, right?

16:50Michael Popok:Military flyovers, wasting hundreds of millions of dollars to scare people from voting. Are we scared? No. Because what are they going to do? Unless they're going to start pulling out weapons and start shooting people at the polls, okay, which I don't think it would go well. So it's not the purge. All right, so make it difficult on me to vote. I don't care. I'll bring a bag lunch and a giant, you know, Yeti. I'm ready. I'll get a chair. I'll sit outside. I don't care if it takes all day. I've waited outside for more stupid stuff. When I was in law school, I waited outside for a Duke game for three and a half days.

17:28Michael Popok:I can wait outside to exercise my right to vote, and so can you. But he thinks we're fools. You heard him say it. We're fools. He said it a day ago. and we're going to show him what foolish voting looks like. Now, to be clear, so this isn't taken out of context, I'm not in favor of fraud. We don't need to vote more than once on an election day. I don't want fraudsters to come in. I don't want Chinese nationalists to be voting by phony software. I don't want that, but that doesn't happen. That is a red herring. That is a paper tiger. That is a false creation, a boogeyman that Donald Trump has put under your bed in order to scare people into accepting his attempts to suppress the vote.

18:21Michael Popok:We must do this. There's so much fraud in the election. We must have certain types of IDs. You must bring your great-grandmother and your passport and your third grade report card from the second marking period, or you cannot vote. What are you even talking about? Voting, which is analyzed and reanalyzed and reanalyzed. The most fraud we've ever had in an election, 0.0001%. 0.0001%. It would never determine the outcome of any election. Yeah. So we already have a robust system that prevents fraud from making an election go one way or the other. Now that's voting. That's separate from what bad guys, and Donald Trump is very good at manufacturing bad people that want to hurt us, enemies.

19:18Michael Popok:That's separate from the enemies who can use social media techniques and brainwashing techniques and AI techniques to try to influence the hearts and minds of people primarily on social media. That's different. I'm not saying that doesn't go on. Certainly that goes on. Donald Trump was probably the recipient, the beneficiary of it going on, again, when Hillary Clinton was defeated and likely when Kamala was defeated. But we're talking about actual voting, and their fraud is very, very limited. I'm glad you're here. I'll give you the follow-up. I'll tell you who the judge is. We'll get the Democratic National Committee on here to talk to me and to brief our audience here on Legal AF and on Midas Touch.

20:02Michael Popok:Come over to Midas Touch and subscribe. Come over to Legal AF YouTube channel. Do the exact same thing. 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. 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.

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