Trump Instantly Trapped by Emergency Order

0:00Michael Popok:Yes, there are still federal judges out there that are not afraid of the Trump administration, nor its Department of Justice, nor the Supreme Court, and just do the right thing for the American people because justice demands it. We have a new emergency order from Judge McConnell, the chief judge of Rhode Island, which will hopefully finally compel the Trump administration on order of the court to start making those eight billion dollars worth of a snap food stamp payments to the most underprivileged, the most vulnerable in our society for the month of November. Remember, the judge has taken a different act.

0:38Michael Popok:There were two different judges who looked at this issue. One judge, Judge Talwani in Massachusetts said, why don't you tell me today on Monday, you know, if there's going to be agency action and then I'll decide whether to enter a preliminary injunction or a temporary restraining order. No, Judge McConnell took what Donald Trump said on social media, trolled Donald Trump with it. In addition to it, took what the federal government Department of Justice wrote to him demanding a temporary restraining order be reduced to writing and use the words against them, did like a judicial jujitsu and flipped it on Donald Trump.

1:16Michael Popok:I cover it right here. The only way I know how without blowing smoke or sunshine on the Midas Dutch Network and for Legal AF. F. Let's talk about how we got here. Two different groups of plaintiffs ran into two different courts. Twenty three Democratic states. You notice no Republican states care about people dying from hunger and starvation in their below the poverty states, you know, like the red states. Blue states ran to the rescue and filed a case that landed in Boston, Massachusetts, in front of Judge Tawani. Cities and public interest groups like Democracy Forward filed their own case on the same issue of whether Trump could terminate SNAP payments, food stamp payments, to this group because of the shutdown.

2:04Michael Popok:They got Judge McConnell, chief judge. Now, you may remember that Chief Judge McConnell has tangled with the Trump administration before. He was one of the judges who early on issued a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration, stopping them from ripping the 14th Amendment birthright citizenship out of the Constitution by executive order. Said, no, babies born in our soil are American citizens. That was Judge McConnell. Now, let's move to this case brought, the first party in the case is Rhode Island State Council of Churches versus Brooke Rollins at the Department of Agriculture, which is the regulator for the program.

2:43Michael Popok:Here's how we got here. First, we had a filing by the Trump administration, an emergency motion to reduce the court's oral temporary restraining order to writing. By the way, there is, I'll tell you as a federal practitioner, There is no requirement that a federal judge issue it in writing. He can or she can from the bench give, and there's a transcript, an oral recording, can give all of the factors, all of the analysis, all of the findings, and issue an injunction from the bench. The Trump administration has tried to argue, no, no, judges can only do it in writing. Untrue. They got caught in that problem with Judge Bozberg about the 200 human beings without due process that were sent in the middle of the night to El Salvador's torture jail.

3:30Michael Popok:They had a whole fight about on the record, off the record, temporary restraining order, writing, not writing. So now they've given to filing this. But they wrote something as grounds. They said, and the judge used it to toast their chestnuts, if you know what I mean. On page two of their motion, which they filed on Halloween, defendants, the Trump administration, are expeditiously attempting to comply with the court's order. In other words, recognizing that they had a temporary restraining order against them. They knew it knowing they had to make the payments like today, but are considering whether any emergency relief is required given the operational difficulties.

4:11Michael Popok:We want it in writing effectively. Judge said, you know, I've done some reading myself. Here's how Judge McConnell started his order. This is at the very top, posted now on Legal AF Substack. Here we go. The defendants in their emergency motion have stated that defendants are expeditiously attempting to comply with the court's order. Okay. Also, he also knows what Trump truths out. Is that what they're calling instead of tweeted out truths out? the president of the United States stated Friday evening, right? Which is also, this is all Halloween, you know, back to back Halloween. I do not want Americans to go hungry.

4:59Michael Popok:I asked the court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible. If we are given the appropriate legal direction by the court, it will be my honor, all in caps, to provide the funding. The judge wrote, the court greatly appreciates the president's quick and definitive response to this court's order and his desire to provide the necessary SNAP funding. I'm not quite sure that's what Trump was trying to do, but that's how the judge interpreted it as almost a confession that he needed to comply with an existing temporary restraining order. Good job, Trump. Now, the holdup in both courts, Judge Talwani's court and Judge McConnell, was over full funding or partial funding.

5:38Michael Popok:To pay out all of the 40 million Americans that wait for this, think about that, 40 million Americans are waiting on SNAP payments. We're talking about the disabled, children, babies, the elderly. I mean, this is like the most vulnerable group in our population. And all they want to do is not die from malnutrition or starvation. and it's an$8 billion a month program. So what the judge said is, well, you have an emergency contingency fund set up by Congress of$6 billion. You can either do three-quarter payments. I mean, listen, I know basic fractions. You can either do three-quarter payments. That's not hard.

6:21Michael Popok:Just go through whatever the payment was going to be and take a quarter off and then make it up later when the shutdown is over or go find additional funds like customs receipts for, there's just money that comes in regularly that you can go grab. Go grab that, make it a full$8 billion payment. And the judge said in his order, I'll read it to you in a moment. Judge McConnell said, and I wanna know what you're doing. You're either gonna make full payments on Monday or by Wednesday, you're gonna give me the plan you're gonna use in order to make partial payments. Hey everybody, Ben Micellis here from the Midas Touch Network.

6:57I wanted to let you know about my podcast partner, Michael Popak's new law firm. It's called the Popak Firm. Michael Popak's pursuing his dream of starting his own law firm, really based on the popular demand by all the Midas mighty and legal AF-ers who were approaching Michael Popak with their cases and saying, can you help us? And at that time, Popak was not able to. So he went out on his own. He started the Popak Firm, where he is now handling catastrophic injury cases like car accident cases, trucking cases, malpractice cases, big negligence cases, wrongful death cases. So if you or someone you know have a case like this, the consultation with Popak's firm is free.

7:45Give him a call. See if you have a case. It's thepopokfirm.com, thepopokfirm.com, or you can call 877-POPOKAF, P-O-P-O-K-A-F. So 1-877-P-O-P-O-K-A-F. Give Michael Popok a call. And I'm really proud of you, Popok. Thanks for all the hard work you're putting in.

8:08Michael Popok:And then he ordered as follows.

8:14Michael Popok:This is the judge. He goes through how SNAP got passed, the entitlement aspect of it, that people are entitled to it. He reminds Trump that in his first administration, when there was a shutdown, he made SNAP payments. So here's his order. If the government does not want to use, this is on page five. If the government does not want to use its discretion to use funds available to make a full payment for November, then it must expeditiously resolve the administrative and clerical burdens it described in its papers. but under no circumstances shall the partial payments be made later than Wednesday.

8:48Michael Popok:And by today, noon on Monday, the government must report to the court on what it will do to comply with the court's order. When that comes in, I will update my reporting here on Midas Dutch on Legal AF Substack on Alive and on Legal AF Substack. So don't worry, I won't leave you in the lurch. I won't leave a cliffhanger when it comes to people suffering. I will give you the update on that. Here's how the judge summarizes it so there's no dispute, no ambiguity. Paragraph 8. In summary, the government must make the full SNAP payment benefits by Monday. If they choose to use their discretion and not use other funds in addition to the contingency funds to make a full payment, then they must make a partial payment of the total amount of the contingency funds, and they must do this by Wednesday, November 5, 2027.

9:38Michael Popok:The court grants the government's motion for a written order. There's a little troll. You wanted a written order? You like apples? How them apples. And then it's so ordered John J. McConnell Jr., chief judge, United States District Court in Rhode Island. What's going to happen next? Well, they got Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary, after the judge issued that order I just read to you. He went on with Jake Tapper on CNN. And either he's lying to the American people, which is certainly, it's certainly possible and likely. Or he wasn't briefed properly to go on with Jake Tapper because he acts like he's still waiting on a written order and the written order came out a day before he went on this show.

10:20Michael Popok:Let me show you the clip. Two federal judges ruled Friday night the White House must tap into the contingency funds to partially cover SNAP benefits that expired this weekend due to the shutdown. Yesterday, the court clarified that at least a partial payment needs to be made by Wednesday. When can we expect the Trump administration to make these payments? Well, President Trump just truthed out that he needs to hear from the courts how this is going to be done. And, Jake, as you know, the best way for SNAP benefits to get paid is for Democrats, five Democrats, to cross the aisle and reopen the government.

10:51Right. But there is this contingency fund. And as recently as September 30th, the Agricultural Department had a memo saying that these funds, the contingency funds, I think it's about five or six billion dollars, could be used to pay these benefits. It would only be two or three weeks, but that's a lot for people who need the food. Well, President Trump just, as I said, President Trump just truthed out that he's very anxious to get this done. And it's got to go through the courts. The courts keep jamming up things. Democrats are in the middle of a civil war and they should just open the government.

11:20That is the easiest way to do this. Is the administration going to appeal the ruling by the judge? Is that what you mean by the courts need to weigh in? Because the courts have weighed in. No, but there's a process that has to be followed. So we got to figure out what the process is. President Trump wants to make sure that people get their food benefits. So it could it could be done by Wednesday. Could be. OK, could be. And five Democratic senators could cross the aisle and open the government by Wednesday.

11:45Michael Popok:They see what he did there. We're just waiting on a judge to give us a written order that we can follow it. OK, there's the written order. It came out the day before. It's only five pages, six pages. You couldn't read it before you got on Jake Tapper. No, you don't want to prepare. They purposely don't prepare senior government officials and Department of Justice lawyers to answer questions because they can go, I don't know. Well, I know. And our audience now knows. And then I think what I heard in there is that they're not going to appeal. The government is not going to appeal this order. They're going to make the effing payments.

12:20Michael Popok:We'll continue to follow a fast-moving story. So many Americans are at risk right now. And that's why, whether it's the states and the states' attorneys general, or it's the public interest groups like Democracy Forward, they are saving our democracy, our constitutional public, and Americans. Simply put, the Trump administration is killing Americans. There's no other way about it. I'm going to have the pleasure and the honor to interview about 11 Democratic attorneys general later in the month during a conference in Phoenix. We're going to be bringing all those interviews to you here on Midas and on Legal AF.

13:01Michael Popok:We're going to host it, have that national conversation that we need, and talk about the 50 or more lawsuits and the hundreds of billions of dollars of funding that they have saved by filing these lawsuits. Until my next report, take a moment, come over to Legal AF YouTube, hit the subscribe button, Legal AF sub-stack, where you can read all these filings for yourself. 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.

13:36Michael 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. Wear legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe. $47 ,000. That's what the average engine customer saves on business travel every year. That's a 26 % savings, all with no booking fees. Up to 70 % off hotels. Zero booking fees. Free to start. Total control. Find a hotel that meets your team's complex needs.

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