Trump Loses it on TV as DOJ Scheme gets Exposed on Air

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1:14Michael Popok:You want to know the real reason Donald Trump gets mad and upset and storms off the set whenever the press asks him questions like Kristen Welker just did about the anti-weaponization fund? Because it's not the fund he's trying to protect, It's the settlement pardon, the pardon that was granted to him by his Department of Justice head, the Attorney General, Todd Blanche. Was that the quid pro quo? Is that how Todd Blanche got the job? Because among everybody that was trying out, he was the one that was willing to give Donald Trump and his family a super pardon. What am I talking about? Who coined the term super pardon?

1:53Michael Popok:Well, Representative Jamie Raskin, the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, who has a new bill named after Todd Blanche to stop it. But what he's really aimed at is the thing that sort of has gone underneath the radar. It's the day two settlement. Day one headline was anti-weaponization fund. Donald Trump won't benefit from it. Day two, Todd Blanche posted a half a page, one paragraph attempt to amend the settlement. a phony settlement that's being investigated for fraud on the court by Judge Williams in Miami this week. He tried to amend it to give absolution, a pardon, if you will, to the entire Trump family, not just for tax exposure, not just for audit exposure, not just the hundreds of millions of back taxes that Donald Trump may owe.

2:44Michael Popok:Oh, no. It has to do with absolving Donald Trump and giving him that immunity that even the United States Supreme Court didn't see fit to give him for anything related to lawfare, anything related to anything that's ever happened. And people like Jamie Raskin, who I just recently interviewed in the last couple of days, are ready to stop it. Not only stop it, this is where law and politics reach their intersection, the zenith of their intersection. Use it politically against Trump and MAGA, make Republicans in the House, in the Senate, have to stand up and vote up or vote down for Donald Trump's attempt to give himself audit exposure, pardon, and immunity.

3:34Michael Popok:Yeah, we're back to immunity again, folks. And I'm covering it here for Midas Touch, Michael Popok for Legal AF. May 19th, we'll put it up on the screen. The day after the settlement, There was a posting by Todd Blanche. It was signed by no other participants in the settlement agreement, no other participants in the lawsuit. This case and this settlement arose out of Trump versus the Internal Revenue Service. There's no Trump signature. There's no lawyers for Trump signature. There's no Internal Revenue Service signature. There's no lawyers for the Internal Revenue Service. There's nobody. It's just Todd Blanche, who was not a party to any of this, declaring I'm going to change the terms of the settlement.

4:17Michael Popok:God, wouldn't I love if that were possible? Can you imagine if a day after I reached a settlement in one of my cases, I just woke up in the middle of the night or early the next morning over a cup of coffee and I decided to amend it, to change it, to benefit myself, to improve the terms in my advantage without the other parties involved. Wouldn't that be possible? Wouldn't that be great if it were possible, the magical thinking behind that? Let me read to you. From this May 19th document, we have it up on Legal AF Substack as well. The United States releases, waves, acquits, and forever discharges each of the plaintiffs from, that's the Trump family and Trump, and is hereby forever barred and precluded.

5:03Michael Popok:The United States, the entirety of the United States is barred and precluded from prosecuting or pursuing any claims. That means criminal. Concerning any matters that were raised or could have been raised in the case. That's the tax stuff. Lawfare. That's not even a real term. Lawfare. And or weaponization. What the F does that mean? But that's so broad that anything in which Donald Trump or his family would be prosecuted for after he left office would now be barred or banned regardless of subject matter. As long as he can he alone can characterize it as lawfare and weaponization. See, what Todd Blanche knows well is that a judge is going to have to interpret that language one day.

5:56Michael Popok:these terms are not defined okay and any matters currently pending or that could have been pending including tax returns before defendants or any other agencies or departments any matters any matters that are pending or that could be pending regardless of subject matter this is the the ticket out of jail this is the get out of jail free card even the supreme court didn't give Donald Trump that with the Trump versus the United States criminal immunity decision three years ago. So he has his private lawyer fix that, which even his Supreme Court, which he bought and paid for, also did not provide him.

6:39Michael Popok:Here's what Representative Raskin had to say about all that during my interview with him while I was at Netroots Conference in Philadelphia over the weekend. Play the clip. So let's talk about the Blanche Act that you've proposed. We see Scott Besant getting his backside handed to him by your colleagues about the attempt to wipe away years of tax and audit liability. Todd Blanche has not yet to have to answer, has not yet had to answer for that in Congress, but he will with your act. Talk about the Super Pardon Act that you've, the Blanche Act that you've just proposed. Well, it shuts down both of this specific one and any attempts to do the same thing in the future.

7:21The president should not be able to bring a lawsuit against the government and then settle the lawsuit by giving himself permanent lifetime immunity from any crimes or civil offenses committed. And in this case, it applies not just to Trump, but to his whole family. So this is about insider trading. This is about political corruption. It's about bribery. It could be about rape and sexual assault. And the Epstein files, they've dealt themselves a get out of jail free card for all time. And so the legislation would stop that, both precluding this specific agreement, but then any attempt to do the same thing in the future.

8:02And we have legislation to do the exact same thing with this super slush fund.

8:07Michael Popok:Now, they just filed late last night in front of Judge Brinkema, their argument that she no longer has jurisdiction because it's now been mooted because he's announced publicly that there won't be any fund. And then repeats the lie that the Trump family is not getting any benefit out of the settlement. Right. I mean, how do you interpret the amendment and what you just said about exoneration and immunity to get out of jail free pass if it's not a benefit to Trump directly? Well, dozens of federal judges have excoriated the Department of Justice and the administration for lying and falsely representing in court.

8:45And this is just one more example. And I hope they are denounced and I hope that they are sanctioned for that. They are complete outlaws when it comes to the federal judiciary.

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10:10Michael Popok:Head to nobletravel.com for up to 46 % off your entire order. That's nobletravel.com for up to 46 % off. After you purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them our show sent you. And this is why you see, now that you see this full thing being exposed, you now understand why nobody in his cabinet will defend it. You know, you got the Treasury Secretary saying, I don't know, lawyers are involved. I can't really respond to, and he was reminded that the lawyers are not involved with the release. The release is not currently in litigation, but it will be.

10:59Michael Popok:Here's Scott Bessett getting wrapped around his own axle as a Treasury secretary. Play the clip. You are the acting IRS commissioner, correct? That is incorrect. What is your position right now with the IRS? My term expired. So you have no position with the IRS whatsoever? The IRS is a bureau that reports the Treasury. When there is no commissioner, those duties float up to me. There is no commissioner, so I assume those duties. So there is no commissioner, so you're acting commissioner. No, that's incorrect. Okay, so for the purpose of the public, let's get it straight so the public knows your involvement.

11:32There is no commissioner. There's somebody that is acting. I had previously been the acting commissioner. Senator Warren, who likes to send me a lot of letters, was kind enough to send me a letter and remind me that I was no longer there. For the purposes of public and transparency, what is your role currently with the IRS and your authority? I am performing the duties of the commissioner. Oh, so you are. Okay, got it.

11:56Michael Popok:And then that's why Donald Trump gets sort of hot and bothered when he's being questioned by Kristen Welker over the weekend about the fund. And then finally storms away and calls her stupid, pats her on the little shoulder and walks out. Play that clip. Let's call it quits because I've had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time. Mr. President, let's please. I traveled all the way to Wisconsin. Are you and Prime Minister Netanyahu on the same page? Yeah, we are. We get along very well. We've been great comrades. We did a very, very big number on a certain country that was nothing but trouble for 47 years.

12:35I disagree with him on a couple of things. I'd like to see Lebanon have a better life. I'd like to see a more surgical attack on Hezbollah. I think it should be more surgical. And we can help them with that, or we can recommend Syria. Syria is doing a very good job of cleaning up their rack. They have a very good leader. They have a leader that's really done a good job in a short period of time, and he would love to help. It was a dirty election. And it's happening again right now in California. It's happening right now in California. Right now, it's looking, look at what's happening in California.

13:15Where's the evidence to that? It's four days. The Republicans are doing well in California. In California, it's, no, they're not. They're dropping fast because it's a rigged election. Let me tell you, it's four days, and they aren't even close to coming up with it. That's how they cap the votes in California. You know why they're doing that? Because they're cheating on the election. There's, what, do you have evidence to support that? All I have to do is look. All I have to do is look. Your elections are crooked, and you're crooked. And Mr. President is crooked. And Mr. President. And so is ABC and CBS and CNN.

13:44But Mr. President. You're one-sided crooked network. So let's call it quits because I've had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time. Mr. President, let's please. I traveled all the way to Wisconsin. I've sat in the rain with you. I know. I've sat in the rain with you for an hour. On and off in the rain. And I've given you enough time. You ought to straighten out your press because you know what? Mr. President. A country can never be great with a dishonest press. He traveled all the way to Wisconsin for this interview.

14:10Michael Popok:Now, Jamie Raskin's bill will put an end to it. And now we've got to pin the tail on those Republicans and make them vote up or down for the fund. They're trying to do it through procedural posture and act like they're not responsible. Right? At all. Oh, we're trying to fund ICE and no, we're going to block this particular amendment that would use the money for the people who are actually injured, like the Capitol and Metro Police. No, he wouldn't do that. But there's a dirty little secret under all of this, that right now, the Jan 6th insurrectionists have the ability to pursue claims against the federal government through the Federal Tort Claim Act.

14:54Michael Popok:In fact, more than 600 of them are right now. They're being defended, or those claims are being prosecuted by a lawyer, Mark McCluskey, who famously was arrested and lost his bar license for a piece for a time for having a menacing AR-15 with his wife during Black Lives Matter in St. Louis. That's the guy that's representing them. And the government at any time under Donald Trump could pay the money not out of this dedicated fund, but out of something else, more money from the Department of Justice buried in their budget. And if Congress wants to stop, just like our framers during the 14th Amendment, stopped insurrectionists from having their debts paid by the government, that's in the 14th Amendment, this Congress would have to declare that no one who participated on Jan 6th, or at least the ones that were arrested, indicted and convicted and sentenced none of them can ever make a claim against the government they have to say that affirmatively and that's another thing that jamie raskin is calling for i'm glad you're here on um might as touch it on legal af we're trying to continue to build our pro-democracy channel on legal af take a minute hit the free subscribe button come over to legal af sub stack and do the exact same thing as we continue to build our membership our level our expertise, our gravitas, our street credibility with your help.

16:28Michael Popok:So 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. We got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes. Wear Legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.