Trump Official Stunned as Judge Readies Criminal Referral

0:00Seriously, why aren't Democrats in Washington doing more to stop Trump? I know. Have you heard about Phil Weiser in Colorado, though? No. Is he different? Yeah. A.G. Weiser sued the Trump administration 65 times. He's beating Trump in court again and again. Things like protecting Obamacare against Trump's illegal tariffs. And he even won against Ticketmaster. So he actually gets results. Exactly. As governor, Phil will fight for Colorado. Paid for by Phil Weiser for Colorado Registered Agent Anna Noskezi. Monday.com AI agents took over my work. And I absolutely love it. Chasing deadlines, writing status reports, updating stakeholders.

0:38Agents handle the daily grind now. I stay in the loop only when it matters. Create your own AI agent in minutes on Monday.com. Seriously, why aren't Democrats in Washington doing more to stop Trump? I know. Have you heard about Phil Weiser in Colorado, though? No. Is he different? Yeah. A.G. Weiser sued the Trump administration 65 times. He's beating Trump in court again and again. Things like protecting Obamacare against Trump's illegal tariffs. And he even won against Ticketmaster. So he actually gets results. Exactly. As Governor, Phil will fight for Colorado. Paid for by Phil Weiser for Colorado Registered Agent Nian Nuskese.

1:15Michael Popok:In a case involving 200 Venezuelans sent to El Salvador without due process by the Trump administration on an order by Kristi Noem, Are we one step closer to Kristi Noem being sent to prison or for criminal prosecution by a federal judge? Well, I have a new order of Chief Judge Bozberg where he posits that while he doesn't currently have enough information at his disposal to determine whether Kristi Noem willfully violated his court order to turn the planes back around and not fly to El Salvador, He's going to do some more fact-finding. And at the present time, a referral for prosecution would be, not out of the question, would be premature.

2:00Michael Popok:When does premature become mature? That's what I want you to know here on Midas Touch Network and Legal AF. I'm Michael Popak. This all arises out of a case we refer to as JGG. has to do with 200 Venezuelans who were originally shipped without due process to El Salvador's Cicot prison to get them away in the middle of the night from federal jurisdiction. It was stopped by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups who ran into court and got Judge Bozberg in an afternoon hearing on the 15th of March to ground the planes. And he told Drew Ensign, the lawyer for the Department of Justice ground those planes, tear down those runways.

2:41Michael Popok:Except Drew Ensign either didn't care, or the Department of Justice clearly didn't care, or Homeland Security because the planes kept flying. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a classic example of contempt of a court order. That's called contumacious conduct. Now, for the last five or six months, the case was stuck in appeals world. It's now unstuck. And the Boesberg chief judge of the DC federal trial court is moving forward with his determination. If he's already determined that there's probable cause, probable cause that there was criminal contempt that was committed by the Trump administration.

3:21Michael Popok:Now he knows it's Kristi Noem because they filed an admission just a few days ago in which they threw Kristi Noem under the bus because the judge said, who made the decision? Who gave the code red? They said, it was Santiago. No, it was Christy Noem. And so he said, fine, submit an affidavit from Christy Noem about why she made that decision. A couple of days ago, she submitted this ridiculous two paragraph affidavit under oath in which she said, there was a hearing. They told me about the hearing, but they told me about it led the night. And then my lawyers told me and I didn't know that I gave the order.

3:59Michael Popok:It's like, no, that's not going to do it, Christy. And when I saw those declarations from her, from Todd Blanche, from Joe Mazzara, who's the general counsel for Homeland Security, my first reaction, and I did a hot take on it, was, uh-oh, they're just told off the judge, told to go F off. And as a result, he is now going to have to have a fuller hearing, or more fulsome hearing, as we like to say. So he said out loud, I want to speak to Erez Riveni. Erez Riveni, to continue my movie buff pop culture references, is sort of like Kaiser Sozi, if you know what I'm talking about, with the usual suspects.

4:45Michael Popok:Erez Riveni was a lawyer for the Department of Justice who got fired for telling the truth. And he prepared and provided to Congress a 30-page whistleblower statement in which he said that A. Mel Bovee, who is now on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, being hidden there by Donald Trump, when he was the acting number three in the Department of Justice, gave the command to the litigation, immigration litigation lawyers for the Department of Justice, but there to tell judges to F off. In fact, in case you forgot Eras Riveni, here's Eras on 60 Minutes. At the beginning of the second Trump administration, you were promoted again.

5:21That's right. Very soon into the administration, I was selected to be the acting deputy director of the immigration section, overseeing about 100 attorneys and every case that arose in the federal district courts. But it was the very day of that promotion, Friday, March 14th, that he and others were called to a fateful meeting with Emil Bovey, President Trump's newly appointed number three at the Justice Department, who was once Trump's criminal defense attorney. And we were told at this meeting that over the weekend, the president of the United States would be signing a proclamation invoking something called the Alien Enemies Act.

6:02This is a wartime law from 1798 invoked three times in the nation's history during the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II. The Alien Enemies Act allows rapid expulsion from the U.S. of the citizens of enemy nations during a war. But without a declared war, Trump used it against more than 100 Venezuelans that the government said were terrorists. They were to be denied their right to be heard by a judge. Ruvani says Bovee expected a challenge. Bovee emphasized those planes need to take off no matter what. And then after a pause, he also told all in attendance, and if some court should issue an order preventing that, we may have to consider telling that court, you.

6:58And when you heard that, you thought what? It felt like a bomb had gone off. Here is the number three official using expletives to tell career attorneys that we may just have to consider disregarding federal court orders.

7:12Michael Popok:And here's Emil Bovee, who's trying to get the job as a Third Circuit Court of Appeals judge, denying that he gave that statement. Although, curiously, basically saying he can't recall exactly at that moment, like he's used the F word on numerous occasions before. Here's his back and forth with Adam Schiff. Play the clip. In the complaint, it says, Bovee stated that DOJ would need to consider telling the courts, fuck you, and ignoring any such court order. Did you say anything of that kind in the meeting? Senator, I have no recollection of saying anything of that kind. To the extent I usually...

7:49Wouldn't you recall, Mr. Bovee, if you said or suggested during a meeting with Justice Department lawyers that maybe they should consider telling the court, fuck you? It seems to me that would be something you'd remember unless that's the kind of thing you say frequently. Well, I've certainly said things encouraging litigators at the department to fight hard for valid positions that we have to take in defense of our clients. And have you frequently suggested that they say, fuck you and ignore court orders? Is that also something you frequently do such you might not remember doing it on this occasion?

8:21No. And as I explained, I have never directed. So did you or did you not make those comments during that meeting? Which comments, Senator? You really need me to repeat it? did you suggest, as Mr. Ruvani wrote, that DOJ would need to consider telling the courts, fuck you, and ignore any such court order? I did not suggest that there would be any need to consider ignoring court orders. At the point of that meeting, there were no court orders to discuss. Well, did you suggest telling the courts, fuck you, in any manner? I don't recall. You just don't remember that. That guy.

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10:28Michael Popok:And I think Drew Ensign's in a lot of trouble. One of the reasons he's been moved off the case, but now he's coming back. Drew Ensign's also the lawyer who Judge Boesberg told early on in the case, hey, Drew, Mr. Ensign, you only got your reputation in this courtroom. I wouldn't sully it or ruin it over these issues. You only have your reputation for telling the truth. You only have it for a short period of time until you ruin it. So now Drew Ensign is being called in. Erez Ruveni is being called in. So here's what the judge has said. Let me read to you from the order, which is up on Substack for Legal AF as well.

11:07Michael Popok:In response to the court's order of November 28th, the government has submitted cursory declarations. That's not a good thing. from Secretary Kristi Noem and the attorneys then at the Department of Justice who advised her about her making the decision to continue the transfer of custody after the temporary restraining order was issued by the judge. As this declaration does not provide enough information for the court to determine whether her decision was a willful violation of the court's order, the court cannot at this juncture find probable cause that her actions constitute a criminal contempt.

11:41Michael Popok:So a referral for prosecution would be premature. But the court believes that it's necessary to hear witness testimony to better understand the bases of the decision. So he's ordered, Erez Ruveni, come on down December 15, 2025 at 9.30 a.m. You're giving testimony in live court. It says plaintiff shall attempt to secure the presence of Erez Ruveni for testimony. It's not going to be hard. They'll serve a subpoena. Eris Reveni used to work in the Department of Justice. He now works at Democracy Forward. I don't think the ACLU is going to have problems getting the Democracy Forward to cooperate and bring Eris Reveni in.

12:19Michael Popok:The government shall produce true ensign on the following day. Oh, legal alert from the ACLU is going to have a field day cross-examining his counterpart at the Department of Justice. Along with Judge Bozberg, it says both sides shall appear in person and will have the opportunity to question witnesses. See, the judge plans to do his own inquiry. Yeah. Then he's going to turn it over to the ACLU and the Department of Justice. Yeah. This is going to be a S show of epic proportion against the Trump administration who have been effing with Judge Bozberg for too long. And now they're going to find out because somebody may be going to jail and her name may be Christy Noem.

13:03Michael Popok:We will follow it all as we always do on Midas Touch without blowing smoke or sunshine. hit the subscribe button on Legal AF YouTube. Not just the podcast, the YouTube. We're achingly close to 1 million subscribers to get us ready for 2026, the midterms and beyond. Be a part of it. Find out if you may have forgotten. Who could remember yesterday, today, what I had for breakfast? Go see if you're a subscriber. It's all for free. If not, hit that subscribe button. Come join us on Legal AF Substack as well. So until my next report, probably to update you on this matter, I'm Michael Popok.

14:07Michael Popok:Wear Legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.

14:37So he actually gets results. Exactly. As Governor, Phil will fight for Colorado. Paid for by Phil Weiser for Colorado Registered Agent and in Noscazi. Ryan Reynolds here for 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. I'm told it's super easy to do at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three-month plan, equivalent to$15 per month required. Intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available.

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