In short
The episode argues that Pam Bondi’s planned criminal investigation into Barack Obama and other Democrats over alleged Russia-related election interference would violate the DOJ’s prosecution manual. The host claims the DOJ manual requires good-faith, reasonable belief that admissible evidence can sustain convictions, and that Bondi’s threshold and “substantial federal interest” assessment won’t be met. The episode also disputes the “equipment hacking” framing, saying the real allegation is “mind” or social-media influence campaigns (Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, AI-made videos) by Russia/China/North Korea. It cites Trump’s past remarks asking Russia/China to find Hillary Clinton’s “missing emails” as evidence of Trump seeking foreign help.
Guests
none mentioned in the transcript.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOIntroduction to DOJ Violations
0:00 to 0:44
Learn about the alleged violations of the DOJ manual by Pam Bondi regarding criminal investigations.
“Donald Trump and Pam Bondi's Department of Justice, they're violating the Department of Justice manual.”
Misreading Evidence of Russian Involvement
0:44 to 2:39
Explore the implications of purported misinterpretations surrounding Russian interference in elections.
“The Department of Justice manual still matters, and we see what Pam Bondi is doing about it.”
Social Media's Role in Election Manipulation
2:39 to 4:23
Understand how foreign adversaries allegedly use social media to influence American votes.
“It is a reduction of what the argument really is in order to try to defeat it.”
Donald Trump's Acknowledgment of Russian Help
4:23 to 5:56
Delve into statements made by Trump that suggest acknowledgment of Russian assistance during his campaign.
“And Donald Trump, of course, plays into his hand because he needs to divide our country in order to get elected.”
Donald Trump's Acknowledgment of Russian Help
6:38 to 7:49
Delve into statements made by Trump that suggest acknowledgment of Russian assistance during his campaign.
“Having some drinks can be fun, but I'm glad I found an alternative that lets me feel great in the moment and the next morning.”
Tulsi Gabbard's Allegations and DOJ Manual Violations
7:58 to 11:10
Examine Tulsi Gabbard's claims about election equipment and the Department of Justice manual's relevance.
“and finding that there is her belief that the Biden administration and others, and the Obama administration were telling the American people that the election equipment was being hacked.”
Implications of Violating DOJ Guidelines
11:10 to 13:34
Discuss the consequences of the DOJ not adhering to its own guidelines in investigations.
“They want to undermine institutions in this country.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Michael Popok:Donald Trump and Pam Bondi's Department of Justice, they're violating the Department of Justice manual. When Pam Bondi tells the American people she's going to open up a criminal investigation and get a grand jury proceeding started against Barack Obama and other Democrats because of her intentional misreading and misinterpretation of evidence about Russia's involvement to try to get Donald Trump elected. And this violation of the Department of Justice manual will be at the heart of motions to dismiss indictments, motions to dismiss impaneled grand juries being filed by criminal targets of this Department of Justice.
0:44Michael Popok:The Department of Justice manual still matters, and we see what Pam Bondi is doing about it. It's nothing more than a doorstop in her office and something that she wipes her shoes on. I'm Michael Popak. You're on Midas Touch Network and at Legal AF. Let's talk about the announcement by Pam Bondi that she's going to open a criminal investigation and compare that to her obligations. Her obligations still exist, both as a professional who is a member of the bar and has ethical obligations and as somebody who needs, who has to abide by the Department of Justice manual. Here's what the Department of Justice manual says about starting a criminal prosecution.
1:28She just announced that because Tulsi Gabbard, in an elaborate, fabricated pitch and catch, went through hundreds of thousands of pages, allegedly, of investigative reporting and intelligence analysis and found
1:43Michael Popok:something that John Durham, Donald Trump and Bill Barr's own special counsel didn't find. that Robert Mueller, special counsel, didn't find, despite both of them spending tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer dollars to look for these things, that the Senate Intelligence Committee and Committee didn't find, headed and signed off by Marco Rubio at the time, that the Intelligence Community Assessment didn't find, but Tulsi Gabbard found it. She reversed-engineered her way to find it, as we know. And what is the thing that she found that is now going to be the subject of this investigation in violation of the DOJ manual?
2:22She found that there was a cover-up at the highest level of the intelligence community
2:28Michael Popok:and Barack Obama that they knew that the Russians had not hacked into voting machines, and yet they led the people to believe that the Russians were trying to influence the election. That is a complete straw man argument. It is a reduction of what the argument really is in order to try to defeat it. The argument is not. Nobody believes that the Russians are amateurish enough to hack voting machines to try to flip votes from Trump to Biden. That's not the allegation. That's the fevered imagination of Sidney Powell, of Rudy Giuliani, of others and Donald Trump himself who believe that happened. And that grand conspiracy between a Venezuelan business person and Dominion voting systems and Smartmatic, remember all that?
3:19Michael Popok:That led to the billions of dollars of defamation payments being made because it's all a lie? That's not the argument. The argument, the intelligence showed, which Tulsi Gabbard showed a complete inability to interpret properly, intentionally. What the evidence showed is that the Russians, along with our other foreign adversaries and enemies, use things like social media to brainwash and mindwash the American people to vote against the Democratic candidates. Facebook, TikTok, Instagram. These are where trolls live. This is where they make memes. This is where they make now using AI, phony video, in order to get you to turn away from the Democrat and towards Donald Trump.
4:08Michael Popok:And that is the covert, sophisticated influencing of elections that's being conducted by the Russians and the Chinese and the North Koreans and others, because they want to divide our country and conquer it. And Donald Trump, of course, plays into his hand because he needs to divide our country in order to get elected. So that's where the two came together. It's just they're in the boat together, rowing at the same time in the same direction. And that's the help and assist that Donald Trump got. And for Donald Trump to say there was no assist by Russia in his getting elected is a lie. Just watch during the political season all of the memes that are a lie that can't be stamped out and disproved fast enough by rapid response teams for the Democrats.
4:58Michael Popok:Just watch what happens during elections. You know, accusations of Kamala Harris or Barack Obama being a Muslim, a secret Muslim, a Marxist, you know, other comments made, overheard that are false, that are then published and publicized on social media and the dark web, not even the dark web, the regular web. And the intention is to brainwash America through a sophisticated social media campaign led by trolls who sit in Russia, in China, who sit offshore, in order to change a vote, flip a mind, activate. That, of course, is going on. Donald Trump even acknowledged it himself. He asked at one time for the Russians to intervene on his behalf.
5:47Michael Popok:He said it out loud. He wanted the Russians to go find Hillary Clinton's quote-unquote missing emails Do you remember that at a press conference? If you don't, here's the clip That a person in our government, Katie, would delete or get rid of 33 ,000 emails That gives me a big problem After she gets a subpoena, she gets subpoenaed And she gets rid of 33 ,000 emails, that gives me a problem Now, if Russia or China or any other country has those emails I mean, to be honest with you, I'd love to see them Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30 ,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.
6:32Michael Popok:Isn't that a confession by Donald Trump, that he not only knew that the Russians were helping him, but he wanted them to help him? Are you sick of drinking your calories, of waking up hungover? Having some drinks can be fun, but I'm glad I found an alternative that lets me feel great in the moment and the next morning. Out of Office Gummies from Soul. The perfect buzz strength is a game changer. It provides the light social lift when you're out with friends. But the next morning, no pounding headache, no groggy fog, just leaves you ready to go. Soul is a wellness brand that believes feeling good should be fun and easy.
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8:27Michael Popok:It's that they're trying to hack the mines. It's a mind hack, not an equipment hack. And so every time Tulsi Gabbard says it, her two-page, I'll show it to you here, we'll put it up on Legal AF Substack, her two-page Department of National Intelligence report. Well, I've looked at it. I see some cutting and pasting going on here, some revisions to the members by a clapper, by Brennan, CIA and FBI and others in the Obama administration. They're trying to mislead the American people. They're trying to inform the American people that the Russians are coming. The Russians are coming. The Russians are here.
9:08Michael Popok:and they're trying to get into our dreams like Freddy Krueger. They're trying to get into our minds and they're trying to dash our hopes and dreams. And that is a reality. And the fact that they don't recognize that because it's not in their best interest. That's why this administration got rid of the cybersecurity and infrastructure agency that was responsible for the integrity of elections. They don't want elections to have integrity. They don't want your vote to count. And so when Pam Bondi announces, supported by the fearless leader, Donald Trump, that we're going to get to the bottom of the 2020 election, 2016 election, that violates the Department of Justice manual.
9:49Michael Popok:Let me read to you what it violates so that we're all on the same page. The principles of federal prosecution at section 9-27.00 say that a prosecutor has to have a good faith and reasonable belief that admissible evidence will be sufficient to not only obtain but sustain even through, not just get it from a jury, but sustain it through an appeal. to sustain a conviction before an unbiased jury, that it is more likely than not that guilt will be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Stop right there. Pam Bondi already violated that rule. She can't possibly believe in good faith what she's saying about opening this investigation.
10:36Michael Popok:See, the reason we have these guidelines is that we want to make sure that Americans and our idols and our icons and the Democratic Party, which is trying to tear down before our very eyes, are protected from even having a shadow cast on them, right? Shade cast on them by the opening of a criminal investigation. Because we can talk about how ridiculous it is and how Jack Smith's going to, is going to survive his Hatch Act violation investigation and turn it back on Donald Trump. But it casts a shadow on these people. They want to undermine institutions in this country. MAGA wants to undermine the Democratic Party, sully its brand, and take away its icons and its idols.
11:23Michael Popok:That's what they're trying to do. So the threshold, there is a threshold criteria that any prosecutor, and certainly the attorney general, has to file. It's been violated here. The threshold criteria is that the Department of Justice must also assess whether prosecution serves a substantial federal interest, the Department of Justice is just the political arm and the campaign arm of Donald Trump and MAGA. That's not a substantial federal interest. If another jurisdiction could prosecute effectively and whether there's a non-criminal alternative available, there's also standards for grand jury presentation and not even seeking an indictment unless it is in good faith with a reasonable belief that the evidence will bear out and ultimately sustain a conviction.
12:09Michael Popok:None of that is happening here. So what do we do about it? Every criminal defendant, if it gets that far, should be seeking to attack the grand jury, the empaneling of the grand jury. I mean, if I were them, I'd run into federal court. They tried it in the Trump administration in Mar-a-Lago, try to pull an Eileen Cannon favorable to the Democrats to try to get her to stop the grand jury from doing its job. Now, at the time, different courts of appeal said, no, you can't do that. You can't as a federal judge. You can't stop the prosecutors from doing their job. But maybe under these circumstances, you can, especially when the Department of Justice manual is being violated.
12:48Michael Popok:So that's a shot. I mean, if you want to wait around until the indictment comes out, Barack Obama, Brennan Clapper, the rest, Jack Smith, then you have to go move to dismiss your indictment. And one of your grounds is the violation of the Department of Justice manual. Put the Department of Justice on trial and Pam Bondi on trial. Doesn't that sound delightful? And then we have to continue to talk truth to each other in order to make sure that the Department of Justice, which has already forfeited its right to be considered an in good faith and honest and trustworthy prosecutorial agency. We have to make sure we put them on trial every time in federal court by calling them out here on Legal AF and on Midas Touch.
13:34Michael Popok:In the meantime, I'm Michael Popok. Hit the free subscribe button here on Midas Touch, but come over to Legal AF, the YouTube channel. We got over 220 million people who have watched our work since September, and we've got a decent subscriber base. It's hitting 750 ,000, but we should be at a million already. And I don't think it's a function of people don't like our content or don't like the Legal AF YouTube channel. I think it's a function of we have to remind people to hit the subscribe button. So please do that and help us continue to grow that channel. So until my next report, I'm Michael Pope-Talk.
14:04Michael Popok: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. Where? Legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.
From the publisher
In going after Democratic icons and leaders like President Obama and his intelligence team on phony “election interference” charges, Pam Bondi and Trump’s DOJ are violating the DOJ Manual in starting criminal investigations and opening grand jury probes without a good faith and reasonable basis to believe there is evidence to support to conviction beyond a reasonable doubt. Michael Popok explains how future lawsuits may be able to stop Bondi in her tracks.
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