Trump Prosecutor Caught Red-Handed as Entire Plan Falls Apart

0:00I didn't think the pain from the shingles rash would affect simple, everyday tasks like bathing, getting dressed, or even walking around. I was wrong. Though not everyone at risk will develop it, 99 % of people over the age of 50 already have the virus that causes shingles, and it could reactivate at any time. I developed it, and the blistering rash lasted for weeks. Don't learn the hard way, like I did. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist today. Sponsored by GSK. Choice Hotels gets you more of what you value. Here's a little tune to help you remember. Same drive, different day. Don't you wish you were getting away?

0:39Pack your bags and come on through. Texas, Ohio, Alaska, we're up there too. Comfort Inn, it's calling your name. Save on the stay. Oh, and free waffles are yours to claim. Well, I hope you like my little song. Book direct at choicehotels.com. Ryan Reynolds here from 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.

1:24Intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. Default terms at mintmobile.com. The ultimate cookout starts with the ultimate ingredients. At Whole Foods Market, no antibiotics ever, burgers and kebabs are prepped and ready to throw on the grill. Fire up a juicy ribeye. Grab creamy potato salad and savory flatbreads from the prepared foods department and round it all out with 365 brand condiments, chips and dips at everyday low prices. Whole Foods Market, make your summer sizzle. You know, with two dogs, a kid, and life just constantly happening in our house, I feel like I'm always cleaning something.

2:04I've tried a ton of products over the years, but Bullshot Carpet has honestly become one of those things I keep reaching for because it actually works fast. I've used it on rugs and upholstery, even after coffee spills and muddy shoes. I love that it dries quickly and doesn't leave a sticky residue behind. It makes cleaning just feel like less of a project. And Bullshot isn't just for carpets. There's a whole line of professional strength foaming cleaners for the messes life throws at you. There's Bullshot Pet for pet stains and odors, Bullshot Degreaser for kitchen grease, and Bullshot Barbecue for grills and grates.

2:36No matter the mess, Bullshot handles it. Just shake, point, and spray. Now, for a limited time, get up to 20 % off Bullshot and free shipping when you text BULL to 64000. That's BULL to 64000 for up to 20 % off and free shipping. That's B-U-L-L to 64000. Message and data rates may apply.

2:57Michael Popok:When a federal judge turns a prosecutor for Donald Trump into a witness for the defense in harsh questioning about whether an indictment was properly obtained or not, whether the grand jury even saw the indictment that was presented to a magistrate judge to represent the new charges against former FBI Director James Comey, that's a bad day in court. And when her colleague, another novice prosecutor, basically admits about the existence of a secret memo that the Department of Justice wants to keep from the defense, but that we all know about from reporting in which career prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia recommended against bringing a case against former FBI Director James Comey for perjury or anything else.

3:41Michael Popok:And that novice prosecutor has to look the judge in the eye and say he's been instructed by Todd Blanche, the number two in the Department of Justice, not to turn it over. That's a bad day in court. And that's the day that was had by the Department of Justice in front of Judge Nachmanoff in Eastern District of Virginia. And the hearing wasn't even about those two issues. But the judge turned it into it and turned it into an evidentiary hearing and effectively an indictment against the Trump Department of Justice. I'm Michael Popok. Traveling today on Report, I'm interviewing 11 attorneys general on the Democratic side, but took time out, of course, to give you the breaking news in the Comey case.

4:21Michael Popok:You're here on Midas Touch Network and on Legal AF. Take a moment and hit the free subscribe button. All right. Big hearing today in front of the actual district court judge, Judge Nakmanoff. We've been reporting in the last 48 hours about a case in front of the magistrate judge that reports to Judge Nakmanoff, Judge Fitzgerald. But this was about, at least on paper, it was supposed to be the day that the motion to dismiss for vindictive prosecution was heard by the federal judge. Instead, the federal judge, pardon me, guys. Instead, the federal judge used the opportunity to put Lindsey Halligan effectively on the stand.

4:58Michael Popok:Lindsay Halligan hasn't really been heard from in the courtroom. In fact, she's made no substantive comments at all. She's let the others do the talking for her. But the judge wasn't having it today. And the first thing he wanted to get to the bottom of is that missing grand jury transcript. What happened during that fateful two hours between 4.30 and 6.30 when the first indictment and the second indictment came into fruition? What's the origin story behind the second indictment? Why is there a second indictment? Who signed it? And did the grand jury actually approve of it? Because if they didn't, and the document that we now all think is the indictment is actually a figment of our imagination because it wasn't properly endorsed by a grand jury, then James Comey gets to go home, a free man, to have his indictment quashed and no new charges brought against him because the statute of limitations has already run on those perjury charges.

5:49Michael Popok:Yes, they had to get it done within a five-day window to get that indictment, and it had to be a proper indictment. Otherwise, there's no indictment at all. Michael Popak, let's talk about the hearing today in front of Judge Nakmanoff, present for the Comey side, Michael Dreeben, for the Halligan Department of Justice side, Lindsey Halligan, and Tyler Lemons. And no, he was not able to make lemonade out of lemons. You knew that was coming. So the judge started off with, let's get to the bottom of the missing transcript. Is there a transcript of how you obtained the second indictment? And Halligan had to admit she didn't obtain the second indictment by going back to the members of the grand jury because they'd already gone home.

6:31Michael Popok:There were only two left when she needed to fix her problem, a jury foreperson and another juror. That's a little short. You need 14 in order to indict. Now she had two indictments. We knew this was a problem from day one. The magistrate judge at the time about three weeks ago, four weeks ago, said, why are there two indictments that you both signed? She said, there aren't. And the magistrate judge said to Lindsay Halligan, there are. And she showed her the signatures. Now what appears to have happened is they took the first indictment, they cut and pasted, they removed the count related to the count that the jury, the grand jury did not return a true bill of indictment on.

7:11Michael Popok:And they had the jury foreperson and the grand jury foreperson and another grand juror sign on the dotted line. That's not how you return a true bill of indictment. In fact, Michael Dreeben, the lawyer for James Comey, jumped up and down and said, we have no indictment, Your Honor. And if there's no indictment, and it wasn't brought by the 5th of September, 2025 on a five-year statute of limitations, came over for the Department of justice. This is important. So Halligan had to admit that the affidavit that she filed to Judge Curry was technically true, except for one aspect that left her to be a liar once again.

7:53Michael Popok:Everyone acts like they fully understand AI. And meanwhile, I'm over here arguing with my smart fridge. If you feel that way too, that's where Udacity comes in. This podcast is sponsored by Udacity. Want to learn skills that command high salaries? Udacity is an online learning platform with courses in AI and tech, including generative AI, agentic AI, Python, data science, and much more. Instead of wasting time on random YouTube videos or prompting chat GPT, Udacity cuts the guesswork so you learn exactly what matters. And you're actually doing real hands-on projects. That's why 90 % of Udacity graduates say that they achieved their enrollment goal.

8:39Michael Popok:Last week, I tried Udacity's course on boosting my data skills. Yes, in my sweats. And it felt great to learn something valuable without leaving the couch. There are tons of places to learn tech, but only Udacity is consistently ranked as the top skill development platform. Real projects, human experts grading your work. It actually works. Plus, Udacity just launched a master's degree in AI. For under$5 ,000, you can get a master of science in AI, a fraction of the cost of traditional degrees with way more flexibility. What I love most is that with Udacity, you're learning AI, but with real human support.

9:23Michael Popok:Whenever I need help, there's someone there. And having a certification from Udacity really gets recruiters' attention. The tech field is always evolving, and you should be too. You can try Udacity risk-free for seven days. Head to udacity.com slash legal AF and use code legal AF for 40 % off your order. Once again, that's udacity.com backslash legal AF for 40 % off. and make sure you use my promo code LEGALAF so they know I sent you. She told a judge who's handling whether she was properly appointed as the U.S. attorney or not. She told the judge in a filing last week, along with Pam Bondi, that she had no further contact with the grand jury at all between 4.30 and 6.30.

10:12Michael Popok:That's why there's no transcript because they were deliberating. Well, that's not true. As noted by the magistrate judge in the case for James Comey, magistrate judge Fitzgerald, he said that, I'm sorry, Fitzpatrick, that couldn't possibly be true. Because how did you learn the first indictment was not returned by the grand jury if you didn't have contact with the grand jury? And where is the transcript where you had contact with the grand jury? Where is the transcript about the second indictment? Well, now after grilling today, Lindsey Halligan, he got to the bottom of it. She just cut and pasted it, and she never pulled the grand jury back together again because they'd all gone home.

10:52Michael Popok:that renders the indictment, ladies and gentlemen, invalid. We call it void ab ab initio from the start, and it should be dismissed. The judge also questioned whether Lindsey Halligan was a puppet or not. And that led to a very uncomfortable exchange by one Tyler Lemons, also a novice prosecutor, who just got sworn in as a special prosecutor for the Department of Justice like the other day. And he said, no, she's not a puppet. She's completely independent. She didn't take a command from Donald Trump, a fiat, if you will, to indict James Comey and Letitia James. The judge, based on nothing. That was just naked argument of counsel.

11:31Michael Popok:She's not a puppet, because I say she's not a puppet. That's a problem when a federal judge questions your independence as a prosecutor and whether you are a puppet for your boss, Donald Trump. Now, we all know about the late September social media post where Donald Trump demanded the indictment of all of his political critics, Shifty Adam Schiff, the senator from California, Letitia James, the New York attorney general, and here of James Comey. And use Lindsey Halligan, he said, in this message to Pam Bondi. We also know from the Wall Street Journal that that message was supposed to be a private message, a direct message to Pam Bondi, although it got publicly posted.

12:12Michael Popok:So the judge wants to know, how is this not on vindictive prosecution How is this not Halligan, who was handpicked by Donald Trump in the social media post to be the prosecutor after Eric Seibert, the prior prosecutor, quit or was fired because he refused to bring the indictment? How is that not vindictive prosecution? How is she not just being a puppet? No good answer came from that. So Judge Nakamadoff ordered that by five o 'clock later on Wednesday, that there be a filing by the Department of Justice to explain why there's two indictments and how the second indictment came to being. And if the second indictment came to being the way it was laid out in the courtroom, why that indictment shouldn't be dismissed.

12:57Michael Popok:Big filing coming, folks. We'll follow it very closely on Legal AF YouTube and on Legal AF Substack for you to keep you up to breast or up to date and abreast of that particular matter. Judge said, I'm going to get to the bottom of this vindictive prosecution. My ruling will be coming not immediately, but certainly I think it'll come around Thanksgiving. And at the same time, we're waiting for whether Judge Curry, about whether Lindsey Halligan was illegally appointed or not whether she's going to dismiss Lindsay Halligan and disqualify her and take the indictment with it. So we have multiple judges looking at the indictment and the grand jury proceedings and deciding whether the indictment survives or not.

13:38Michael Popok:Let me cut to the chase. I think James Comey is on the right side of the angels here. I think his indictment will be dismissed because it's not a true bill of indictment returned by a grand jury at all. I think the statute of limitations is run so they can't try to re-indict him with a new grand jury. And I think game over. And then the judge should make a referral to the various bar associations for discipline of Lindsay Halligan and even of this Tyler Lemons for misleading the court, for a fraud on the court, for prosecutorial misconduct and abuse. That's what should happen. We'll continue to follow it all right here on the Midas Touch Network and on Legal AF.

14:15Michael Popok:Take a moment, hit the free subscribe button here on Midas. Come over to Legal AF YouTube and help us get to the 1 million subscriber threshold. With your help, We will. So until my next report, I'm Michael Pofok.

14:52Michael Popok:of the podcast and hot takes, where legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe. Spotify, it's Jay Shetty. Are you one of those media strategy people? Scrolling through spreadsheets, searching for an audience that pays twice as much attention to your ads than they do on social? Let me introduce you to fans. And they're here with me on Spotify. Trust me, I know fans. They don't skip, they stay for hours. They don't move on, they manifest. They're not a demographic group, they're fans. Spotify Advertising, you're among fans. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile, with a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much.

15:38Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop. With Mint, you can get premium wireless for just$15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments, but that's weird. Okay, one judgment. Anyway, give it a try 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. Taxes and fees extra. See full terms at mintmobile.com.

16:06You know that music? That's the sound of shopping for car insurance the old way. Life's too short for that. Jerry makes car insurance easier. Open the app, answer a few questions, and Jerry pulls up to 20 quotes from top insurers. Then choose and switch right in the app. No re-entering your information. No saxophone solos. And Jerry keeps checking rates for you. So you're not back on hold six months from now. Visit jerry.ai slash Libsyn today. Some days you want a little extra oomph to your usual look. Whether that's lashes for days with the Viral Liquid Lash Extensions Mascara or awakening your eyes with a lasting lift and soft color with the Brilliant Eye Brightener.

16:46Thrive Cosmetics is your go-to when you want to amplify your everyday look. Whether you want a simple, just-got-to-get-out-of-the-door routine or full glam, you'll always look and feel like the best version of yourself with Thrive Cosmetics. Plus, every product is 100 % vegan, cruelty-free, and made with clean, skin-loving ingredients that work with your skin. Not against it. And for every product purchased, Thrive Cosmetics donates to help communities thrive. So every time you use your favorite Thrive Cosmetics product, you're helping communities you care about too. Amplify your everyday. Go to thrivecosmetics.com slash shine26 for an exclusive offer of 20 % off your first order.

17:27That's Thrive Cosmetics. C-A-U-S-E-M-E-T-I-C-S dot com slash shine26.