Trump Plummets as 9 Civil Rights Groups File Emergency Suit to Block Armed Agents at Polls

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0:30Michael Popok:In breaking news, fresh off the heels of FBI Director Cash Patel's startling testimony in which he said he would not rule out FBI agents and federal agents with guns at polling places. Nine different public interest groups, groups that defend the underprivileged black and brown communities and the rest have filed a new lawsuit in Washington, D.C. federal court against Kash Patel, Todd Blanche, Homeland Security and the rest to block them once and for all from sending armed, masked or otherwise federal security forces or ICE forces into federal polling places. to intimidate people in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

1:15Michael Popok:I'm Michael Popok. Let's break it down right here. This is being led by the NAACP, and we're going to have Kristen Clark for the NAACP, the general counsel, on early next week. But let me break down for you right now what's happening and why this is so important. And what triggered it, I am sure, is they were waiting to hear how Kash Patel would respond to that question. And when they got the wrong answer, they hit the print button and filed their lawsuit. Take a moment, by the way, you're on Legal AF during its birthday week. Help us build our channel out more muscular, more robust as we head into the midterms, 45 days away and beyond.

1:52Michael Popok:Okay, who are the plaintiffs in the case? Let's set the stage with the cast of characters. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP, Mi Familia en Acción, OCA, the Asian Pacific American Advocates, National Urban League, MN8 out of Minnesota, Service Employees International Union, the American Federation of Teachers, United Food and Commercial Workers, the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. Who are the defendants? Homeland Security and Mark Wayne Mullen, ICE and David Venturella, U.S. Department of Justice and Todd Blanche, FBI and Kash Patel and Tom Homan.

2:32Michael Popok:The border czar. And what are they alleging? It's very simple. Even though it's 65 pages, it comes down to one single cause of action, one count. See, you don't need dozens and dozens of counts. You need one count. And the one count here, for instance, is a violation of the Voting Rights Act. In particular, let me read to you from the Voting Rights Act or the section that they're referring to. Section 11B of the Voting Rights Act, which is also codified in 52 United States Code 10307 little b, to prevent any type of voter intimidation against voters or people trying to help voters. And this act of putting in ICE, throwing the FBI in polling places, is an example of levels of intimidation in anticipation of a violation of the Voting Rights Act, plain and simple.

3:29Michael Popok:In fact, Mark Wayne Mullen, just recently, who took over for Kristi Noem, said it out loud as if he didn't understand what the law provides. No surprise, since his general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security doesn't understand anything like the writ of habeas corpus. Of course, this guy wouldn't understand. It is a violation of federal law and criminal law, by the way, to put his agents in polling places. Play the clip. Briefly, at your hearing recently, you didn't rule out sending ICE agents to the polls in the midterms. Are you willing to rule out sending ICE agents? No, what I said is that we would only be there if a threat is arised.

4:10So you're not ruling it out here today? No, keep in mind, why would ICE be there? Because the only people that should be voting there is American citizens. There shouldn't be any immigration enforcement. So this should be a mute deal for any Democrat. So why would there be a circumstance where you would need ICE agents? Keep in mind, ICE agents are there to flex if we need to. So you saw ICE at TSA lines, not processing, but in the soft areas. If a threat were to arise, for whatever reason, at a polling station, say a bomb threat would be called in, Our ICE agents are more than just immigration custom enforcement.

4:39They're also trained to have SRT, which means that we can have an emergency team respond quickly. The only reason why we would be there is not for voter identification. It'd be because a law enforcement is needed. And the local law enforcement would be part of that conversation. So we wouldn't show up on our own. We would be getting asked to show up. But not for immigration purposes. Because as I said, the only people that should be in line are American citizens. So there should be no reason to have any type of that.

5:07Michael Popok:And then the trigger of that, it's actually listed along with that particular clip in the complaint itself, is Kash Patel just three days ago. Just three days ago during his oversight committee hearing, he was asked point blank, will you agree not to send in federal agents or FBI into polling places? And he gave these responses. Well, you've been asked a few questions about what the FBI role is going to be. Last month, Congressman and Michigan gubernatorial candidate John James said to podcaster Benny Johnson, quote, I've already had a good conversation with my friend, Kash Patel, who has said already that the FBI will have a presence leading up to Election Day in Michigan in both West Michigan and Southeast Michigan.

5:54Is that true? We have an election crimes community coordinator in all 56 field office so you bet we're going to have them there and manning the post for election interference matters wait i thought you weren't going to be sending people to the polls when did you hear that it's just another lie answered mr blumenthal nope so you are sending you are we have election crisis coordinators manned at all 56 field offices election integrity is of paramount importance this fbi is not going to shy away from that effort this is and if you want to continue lying about the men and women of the fbi so you can have your four second campaign ad go ahead but the historic results the 20 reduction in murder rate the 1100 terrorist attacks stopped the 11 000 children found the 54 000 violent offenders are what this fbi is driving towards the top 10 most captured question six of the most wanted fraudsters captured my time you asked where we're spending our resources we are spending the resources in delivering the most prolific reduction in crime in u.s history crushing violent crime and defending the homeland and that's where we're going to continue i ask that my time be restored mr chairman please proceed this is existential you told mr blumenthal you weren't sending fbi agents to election sites you told And according to Mr.

7:17James, you said the FBI is on the way. And this is about whether the United States citizens, Republicans, Democrats, independents are the deciders of this election or this election interference led by the FBI and the Trump administration. That's what this is about. Do you pledge that you will not in any way interfere in the will of the American people when they go to the polls in November? I pledge unequivocally that I will not participate in your charade of lies. Then why are you being such a panderer to President Trump, who's still claiming that he won the 2020 election and who has said the only way Democrats can win in 2026 is if they cheat?

8:03Do you believe that? What I believe in is the rule of law. What I will always believe in is executing the rule of law. Are you done with your campaign ad? By the way.

8:14Michael Popok:Well, that didn't give anybody any satisfaction. Not when they've got the president of the United States of America, who is constantly making it very, very uncomfortable and turning up the heat on legitimate registered citizen voters to vote by claiming they're going to be doing a hunt, some sort of purge of non-citizens voting. Who could forget Donald Trump holding a primetime address that nobody watched that said over 280 ,000 people who are not citizens are on the voter rolls? Doesn't mean they're going to vote and it doesn't mean they're not going to be prosecuted for crimes, by the way. But Donald Trump does it to create a boogeyman in order to justify sending in armed agents.

8:55Michael Popok:Here's Donald Trump. Finally, to reveal just how vulnerable our elections continue to be, we are releasing the results of a stunning investigation by the Department of Homeland Security. According to the DHS review, state voter rolls and public records, they identified approximately 278 ,000 non-citizens who are registered to vote in federal elections. Since Democrat states refuse to share their voter files, the real number is actually much higher than that. Yet, even this limited analysis found more than a quarter of a million foreigners illegally registered to vote. Put together, these disclosures reveal an election system so broken and so vulnerable that no one can possibly defend it.

9:47It is not defensible. Hundreds of millions of U.S. voter files are in the hands of foreign governments. Our machines and ballot counting systems are exposed to hacking and manipulation and corruption. China and other countries have been trying to meddle in our elections. Evidence of fraud has been buried. Hundreds of thousands of non-citizens and dead people are listed and active on the voter rolls. And yet we still have elections with no voter ID, no proof of citizenship and tens of millions of ballots floating aimlessly through the mail. As one example of the insanity, California's recent election for mayor of L.A.

10:33and governor was held on June 2nd, long time ago, but it was just completed a few days ago on July 10th. Think of that much more than one month. Took a month to count the votes. I wonder what they were doing. This is worse than any third world country. There's no third world country that has elections like we have.

10:56Michael Popok:Now, let me read to you from the complaint. And we'll put this up on Legal AF Substack for our paid members. Then we'll go over some of the details that they referred to to support their case. Introduction, page one or page three in this case. As the 2026 midterm elections begin, the federal government has claimed authority to station armed federal agents to unlawfully operate in the vicinity of voting locations. This is paragraph two.

11:53Michael Popok:NAACP, by the way, side note, that we're so proud to have them as collaborators with us and support their work here on Legal AF. Kristen Clark, who's the current general counsel, new general counsel for the NAACP, what a perfect person to be leading that organization's law department right now. She had been the number three or four in the Department of Justice under Joe Biden. She had been the head of the Civil Rights Division. She knows what she is talking about, and I'll have her on early next week to talk about this new lawsuit. Paragraph two, federal law expressly prohibits sending armed federal agents to voting locations.

12:28Michael Popok:Neither the Constitution nor federal law grants federal agencies any role in assessing or policing voter eligibility or regulating election administration in any way. Yet the administration has repeatedly sought to interfere with the election system. And in at least one instance, the DOJ conditioned the removal of immigration enforcement agents on state leaders turning over voter roll information. Paragraph three, the result is predictable. Voters across the country, including, of course, in our audience, particularly Black, Latin and Asian voters, naturalized citizens and members of mixed status families are afraid to vote, help others to vote or participate in civic life.

13:08Michael Popok:This voter intimidation squarely is prohibited by Section 11B of the Voting Rights Act. Tellingly, Section 11B, paragraph 4 says, does not require that such unlawful conduct ultimately prevent a voter from casting a ballot, nor does it require voters to wait until they encounter the threat. Congress wrote the provision broadly to protect the sacred right of voters to cast their ballots safely and without fear. Listen to some of these examples. This is on pages 38 and 39 of the complaint. Plaintiffs are aware that DHS operations have resulted in the deaths of numerous people. Think about that. Our own government and its Department of Homeland Security is not securing the homeland.

13:55Michael Popok:It's killing numerous people. Many, many people. A nonprofit organization tracking gun violence summarizes that during this administration, DHS agents have shot firearms at civilians 30 times, killed nine of these people and seriously injured 14 others and held bystanders and protesters at gunpoint in at least 49 other instances. In a single month, DHS agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. We know who those are, Alex Preddy and Renee Good. A few months later, in quick succession, DHS agents publicly shot and killed two people during traffic stops in Maine and Texas. Paragraph 149.

14:40Michael Popok:Defendants' operations demonstrate what an armed federal presence means in communities of color, mass arrests, unlawful entries into private residences, and the threat of federal agents exacting physical violence and killing civilians. Paragraph 150 to 155 on page 39.

15:23Michael Popok:of federal law enforcement within the Los Angeles area. They talk about raids. Paragraph 152, plaintiffs' members have seen this racialized and violent imagery. Defendants' public messaging heighten enforcement activity in communities of color, reinforces plaintiffs' fears that defendants may target them regardless of their citizenship status. You see why the NAACP waited to the right moment to file this lawsuit? This is the second lawsuit in the District of Columbia in the last week to stop DHS in its tracks from even thinking about intimidating voters. See, we have to start now with 45 days to go to the midterms because people are making their decisions now about whether to fight on or give up, whether to show up at the polls or say it's not worth it.

16:18Michael Popok:Whether to go into hiding even though they're registered and they are citizens, naturalized or native-born, because they're just fatigued, because they're understandably scared and legitimately scared by this administration and its out-of-control rogue president going after disadvantaged communities, primarily of color. because those communities often vote with the other party, the Democratic Party or our independents. And Donald Trump wants them to sit home, stay home, sit out this election so that MAGA can prevail. That cannot happen. And it's not, the timing is exquisite for this filing because you don't want to wait until day of early voting.

17:02Michael Popok:Early voting is going to start in about two or three weeks in some places. Absolutely. Once we get to the 30-day mark, a couple of more weeks. And it's too late. People are making decisions now about their sacred right to vote, and they need to see organizations and federal judges stand up and protect them now and not wait for injury later. That's why they're bringing it under the Voting Rights Act, because you don't have to wait in advance. Intimidation is happening now. Injury is happening now. Conferring standing on these nine organizations now. We are hopefully not going to see the Goldilocks scenario play out in district court level or appellate court level or at the United States Supreme Court.

17:52Michael Popok:You're too early. So you're too early. So it's not right because you haven't been injured. There's the door. We'll see you maybe another time. Not now. Not when you're almost a month away from the election. Nothing is too early. Everything goes into the equation of whether somebody's going to vote or not. And they need to be protected now and know they have protectors. Know that they have guardians to defend them. We are. We'll platform this. We'll bring on the lawyers that are handling this case. We'll bring on the NAACP to address our audience in a briefing. Because it's that important. I mean, this moment in time is so unique and important that I left my day job to do what we do together here on Legal AF.

18:48Michael Popok:You know, because I have to be able to look my daughter, who's just two years old, in the face, in the eyes. And when she asked me, Daddy, what did you do? And she's reading the history books to defend democracy, to defend the rule of law, to reinstall the guardrails, to run the bastards out on a rail. She'll probably curse like me. What did you do? I need to be able to look her in the eye and say, this is what I did. This is what our community did that we built. This is what the organizations that we collaborate did in the trenches, in the courtrooms. I won't rest until we accomplish our goal of protecting the constitutional republic and restoring it to match the values that we all hold dear that have been under attack and assault by a lawless rogue president and his band of enablers and bootleggers.

19:44Michael Popok:We won't rest. we won't rest until the game is over we have to leave it out on the playing field and if the game hasn't even started yet we're not even in the first quarter this is going to go beyond until donald trump and his administration is over and the new congress and the new president are seated and then even after that until justice is done and accountability is reinstalled in this country, we cannot rest. Take a moment, join our community, hit that free subscribe button and help us to continue to grow our pro-democracy channel. Until my next report in about an hour, I'm Michael Popak.

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