Trump Quickly Gets Nightmare News in $1.776B Case

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0:45Michael Popok:As a long line of MAGA white supremacists and extremist groups and terrorist organizations and those convicted of seditious conspiracy against the United States line up with their hands out to get money from Donald Trump's slush fund as the Democrats work overtime in the House and the Senate to try to block Donald Trump's slush fund created unconstitutionally and illegally in part of the settlement with his phony IRS case, which now turns out to be nothing more than a smokescreen for what he really wanted to accomplish, which is to have$100 million of tax exposure and liability and audit liability disappear as part of the settlement against himself and his family.

1:33Michael Popok:Now we've got, well, let's just put that the White House is reconsidering aspects of the fund because there seems to be no political will, no Republican support, no popular support for this depraved slush fund. And now you've got people like Todd Blanche going back on television and thinking better of having told the American people during his Senate appearance this week that, well, if the people who attack the police or convicted child sex traffickers or abusers want to apply for the money, there's nothing we can do about it. That seems to be even a bridge too far for most people. I just had the distinct pleasure of interviewing for Legal AF and the Midas Touch Network, Brendan Ballou, the CEO of Public Integrity Project, who brought now what is the first lawsuit against the Trump slush fund brought by his clients, two former Capitol Police officers, Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges.

2:42Michael Popok:and they are now, have that case has now been assigned, wait for it, to Judge Leon, right, Richard Leon, the George W. Bush appointee, who's the ballroom judge, who knows his way around being misled by the Trump administration. I cover it all here on the Midas Touch Network and for legal AF. Let's get down to the story. Case by public integrity, the public integrity project gets filed. They anticipate exactly what is happening now, which is people lining up, extremist groups, Enrique Tarrio, the proud boys, saying, I won't be greedy. You know, the ONE network or OAN network lining up for money.

3:31Michael Popok:I mean, if you gave all these extremist, radical, white nationalists and others the money, you'd have to have a fund that was 10 times the size. And funding of terrorist organizations is exactly the point of the lawsuit, that this fund finances insurrectionists and paramilitary groups just in time for the midterms. And this case has now been assigned. It's the only case right now. There's going to be more, I assure you. But the only case right now on the docket is Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges versus Donald Trump, Todd Blanch, Scott Bessett, to stop the fund and put it out of its misery, put it out of our misery.

4:16And I had the distinct honor of interviewing Brendan Ballew after we all found out that Judge Leon of the ballroom fame had been assigned to the case.

4:28Michael Popok:And here's a clip. Let's do some inside baseball because our audience really enjoys that, even though most of them are not lawyers, but they certainly like being here at the intersection of law and politics. You've got your judge assignment. It looks like it's Judge Richard Leon, who's for those that follow Legal AF, which they do. He's the ballroom judge. He have many exclamation marks. When is your first when do you think you'll be in court with Judge Leon? Yeah, we don't have a status conference yet, but, you know, standard civil procedure, I imagine the Department of Justice is going to file a motion to dismiss, as they always do.

5:01So that's, you know, when the ball really starts rolling. I think, you know, we're in a fortunate situation in that Judge Leon is, you know, a Republican-appointed judge, I think has conservative bona fides, but also has a true independent streak and I think is really outraged by a lot of the recent illegal actions. The ballroom example is a great one. And so I think he's going to understand, especially as a judge that has served in the District of Columbia and has handled these sort of January 6th cases in the past, I think is going to understand the real physical dangers that a fund like this creates for our clients.

5:36Michael Popok:Now, what we're fearful of is what you just heard, that Trump is trying to rearm and fund a paramilitary organization to do his bidding, his beck and call for the midterms and for the 2028 election. And he's arming them and funding them with your and my taxpayer dollars. Now, let's talk about Judge Leon for a moment. Judge Leon famously wrote during his ballroom opinions in the case that he did not believe the White House or the Trump administration did not believe that national security was at risk because of an excavation pit created by Donald Trump where the East Wing used to sit and for the ballroom.

6:30Michael Popok:and wrote many things in his order that were effectively rhetorical eye-rolling with lots of exclamation marks. Now, his order has been blocked while the appellate court gets their arms and minds around the appeal. And so construction below ground of the ballroom continues. But right on cue, and that's not the only case he's handled, that has prepared him for this moment to be the judge in charge of whether this fund goes forward or not, whether it's unconstitutional, whether it's violating of statutes, whether it violates the Administrative Procedures Act, because he's also handled cases where Donald Trump's gone after and weaponized the Department of Justice and his own administration to try to take law firms that he didn't like, that hired people he didn't like, or his perceived political enemies, or refused to represent Donald Trump, tried to blackmail them and blackball them to cut off their ability to appear in front of the federal government, represent clients, or represent the federal government, cutting their revenue in half.

7:39Judge Leon, along with Amy Berman Jackson, along with Judge Beryl Howell, all collectively

7:47Michael Popok:Lee said no to that, and that they were not going to allow it. And that looks like it's going to be affirmed on appeal based on a recent oral argument. So Judge Leon is prepared. I think he's the perfect judge for this case. And we're going to continue to follow it there. At the same time, the Trump administration is trying to figure out how to do backflips and get away from Todd Blanche not committing to having people who abuse the police being able to apply to the fund. Here's Van Hollen, Senator Van Hollen, cross-examining Todd Blanche with an inch of his life just earlier this week. Play the clip.

8:29You're his former personal attorney and you know exactly what he wants. In fact, he often posts it right here on social media, his Truth Social account. Now, he wants to weaponize the department for his own political ends. And right from the start, you and your cohorts have worked to deliver what he wants, doing his political dirty work. This is an outrageous, unprecedented slush fund that you set up. Simple question. Will individuals who assaulted Capitol Hill police officers be eligible for this fund? Well, as it makes plain, anybody is... Just let me know if they're eligible for the fund. As was made plain yesterday, anybody in this country is eligible to apply if they believe they're a victim of a position.

9:17Mr. Attorney General, let me ask you this. Are there going to be rules that say that if you've assaulted a Capitol Hill police officer or committed a violent crime, you will not be eligible? Why not make that a rule? I expect that, well, because I'm not one of the commissioners setting up the rules, I expect that there will be rules set up. You're appointing four of the five members, aren't you, Mr. Attorney General? Pardon me? You're appointing four of the five members. I am appointing all five members. You can certainly set up the rules. I would hope you make a rule that anyone convicted of assaulting a police officer of violent crime is simply not eligible.

9:46They should not apply. Do you know that it is a criminal offense to lie to Congress? I am very well aware of that. Well, now that Congress and the senator, the Republicans look like they don't support the fund either and put right next to that, that the ballroom$1 billion funding was just killed

10:11Michael Popok:by the Republicans in the Senate. What do you think they're going to do with this fund? This is not the time when people are concerned about affordability. They can't pay rent. They can't pay for health care. They can't pay for gas at the gas pump or food at the supermarket to be bestowing on President Trump a billion dollars for a ballroom or 1.76 billion for the white nationalist terrorist paramilitary funding slush fund. Or to let Donald Trump and his family out from 100 million dollars for the tax exposure. There's no political will for this. So now you have Todd Blanche trying to fix it on CNN.

10:56Michael Popok:Play the clip. You're the nation's top law enforcement official right now. Would you be okay with people who were convicted of hurting police getting taxpayer money? Just to be clear, people that hurt police get money all the time, okay? There's a process where if you believe you have your rights violated, you can apply for funds, you can sue, you can file a claim, you can go to court. In some of those cases, the state, the government, the federal government settles those cases. It's abhorrent to ever, ever touch a law enforcement officer, which is why anytime anybody does that and it's a federal officer, we'll prosecute them.

11:33But that's a completely different question with whether an individual is allowed to apply for a claim.

11:38Michael Popok:There's going to be a lot of developments in the first lawsuit that's been filed. Status conference will be coming up soon with Judge Leon. And I'm assuming today or tomorrow, certainly before Memorial Day, there will be one or two additional lawsuits that will be filed against the Trump slush fund. This lawsuit brought by Dunn and Hodges, brought by Public Integrity Project, does not touch the constitutional issues, really. I mean, it talks about the 14th Amendment and how you can't pay the debts of insurrectionists. That's a good one. But it doesn't get to the heart of the emoluments clause that prevents a president from taking a benefit, a gift, a commission, a economic value in addition to a salary paid during the year.

12:35Michael Popok:that that will be addressed by other suits i predict i predict there'll be at least two other lawsuits that will be filed with different judges all trying to obtain the same thing which is to have the the weaponization fund put out of its misery i'll follow it all right here on might touch it on legal af until my next report come over to legal af youtube channel 12 fresh videos every day and our Legal AF sub stack as well. Until then, I'm Michael Popok.

13:30Michael Popok:interviews. We got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes. Wear legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.

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