Trump Throws Bondi Under the Bus in Open Court

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1:17Michael Popok:Do you ever wonder what damning, faint praise actually looked and sounded like? It looks like the Department of Justice in their new filing in front of Judge Menendez in their attempt to, I think, explain a way to justify Pam Bondi's ransom letter. I mean, that's what people are calling it. The letter she sent on the 24th of January on the night of Alex Pretti's execution to the governor of Minnesota, basically telling him to change his policies, turn over voter data, turn over Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP entitlement program data and help the feds capture migrants or else. It's extortive. How do I know that?

1:59Michael Popok:Because Judge Menendez, the federal judge who's handling the case brought by the state of Minnesota, thinks it's extortive. She said so in a hearing. She was deeply troubled by the letter. And this was the opportunity for Pam Bondi's Department of Justice. I mean, they do work for her to put up their best defense and explain it away. And then I read it and I said, where is the defense? Is this yet another example of the Department of Justice or one aspect of the Trump administration throwing another aspect under the bus? I mean, we just had Kristi Noem, who's this close to being impeached, led by the Democrats, and removed from office and fired her defense for what she did, labeling U.S.

2:39Michael Popok:citizens to be domestic terrorists, to call to defend ICE and Border Patrol under her command to execute Americans on the streets. It's not just Alex Preti and Renee Good. They're the prime examples. There's 38 people that have died under ICE custody. There's hundreds more under Border Patrol. This is a scandal-ridden cover-up organization that she's leading. And she says, I just do it with Stephen Miller and what my boss Donald Trump told me to do. I was just following orders like any good Nazi soldier. Now let's turn while you're here on Midas Touch Network and on Legal AF on Michael Popok. Hit that free subscribe button both here and on Legal AF YouTube.

3:20Michael Popok:I reported on the letter, the letter, the ransom letter. And if Donald Trump, for instance, thought that he was helping Pam Bondi, talk about one hand not knowing what the other hand is doing, just before the Department of Justice filed the paper that I'm going to read to you from, to Judge Menendez barely defending Pam Bondi, our fearless leader had this to say in a social media post going after Mayor Frey of Minneapolis. He said, now, again, remember, this is supposed to be helping the administration. You've got a federal judge who believes that there's an extortive quid pro quo by Pam Bondi trying to blackmail Tim Walls to stop the ICE and Border Patrol search.

4:13Michael Popok:Donald Trump must know that. Here's what he writes in social media. Surprisingly, Mayor Jacob Frey just stated that Minneapolis does not and will not enforce federal immigration laws. We have an anti-commandeering statute, an anti-commandeering section of the Constitution where the federal administration, the federal agency cannot command state workers and state law enforcement to help them enforce federal law. That's the foundation, one of the foundations of our state sovereignty and the Tenth Amendment. Donald Trump never read the Constitution. He doesn't walk around with a pocket copy of it like I do.

4:53Michael Popok:Here's what he said. Surprisingly, Mayor Jacob Frey just stated that Minneapolis does not and will not enforce federal immigration laws. Yeah, that's a proper understanding of the anti-commandeering provisions, which creates what we now refer to as sanctuary cities or states. This is after having had a very good conversation with him. Could somebody in his inner sanctum please explain that this statement is a very serious violation of the law and that he's playing with fire? Again, change your sanctuary city status or we're going to send boot jacked Trump security shock forces to the streets to kill your citizens.

5:34Michael Popok:That's how we all read the letter. here's Pam Bondi also knowing that she's going to be in court about this issue. Here's how she responds on Fox. Play the clip. Well, why this has happened in Minneapolis is because you have a mayor, you have a governor who has declared Minneapolis a sanctuary city saying, bring your worst of the worst to Minneapolis. You're invited here. We will protect you. New year, new goals. But the headlines, they didn't get the memo. If 2026 already feels overwhelming, Indicloud offers a calmer way to reset. Indicloud is a fully legal online cannabis dispensary featuring gummies, premium pre-rolls, and their new zero sugar THC sodas, a clean alcohol-free option well-suited for dry January and modern media fatigue.

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7:12Michael Popok:Enjoy responsibly. And here's to less doom scrolling and more deep breaths in 2026. Now, before I get to the filing, let me just read you a letter. It's up in LEGALAF Substack and you can judge for yourself. This, again is after Alex Preti is executed, not before. No mention of that anywhere. No taking responsibility, no apology, no saying there'll be change in policy. It says, unfortunately, you and other Minnesota officials have refused to support the men and women risking their lives to protect Americans and uphold the rule of law. I guess that's the federal forces. Oh, poor border patrol, poor ICE.

7:56Michael Popok:How many of them have been killed in these operations or injured or maimed? Very, very few, almost none compared to the blood rolling in the streets, flowing in the streets of Americans. And they always love talking about criminal, illegal aliens convicted of homicide, drug trafficking, sexual assaults against children, rape with a weapon, and other horrific crimes. Yeah, that's not who's being taken off the streets by and large in Operation Metro Search. Now we get to the ransom. The result of your state's policies and your anti-law enforcement rhetoric are a national tragedy. Perhaps most disappointing, the lawlessness caused by these policies has bled into sacred places of worship.

8:39Michael Popok:They're always big on defending churches, but not people's lives. And then you have unprecedented financial fraud. and your office must restore the rule of law, support ICE officers, and bring an end to the chaos in Minnesota. Chaos in Minnesota created by Donald Trump, FBI, Homeland Security, and Department of Justice. First, share all of Minnesota's records on Medicaid and food and nutrition service programs, that's SNAP, with the federal government to investigate fraud. Is that what this is about? Because if that's what this is about, then you take the troops off the grounds and you take their foot off of our necks and you go have inspectors general and the Department of Justice Civil Division on Fraud go investigate.

9:25Michael Popok:Try that. Except the Department of Justice is a disarray. It's hollowed out. There are no more real employees or leaders there except for a handful. And none of them know how to do a fraud investigation. And most of the Department of Justice right now appears to be in the Epstein file review business. Second, her second demand for ransom. Repeal the sanctuary policies that have led to so much crime and violence in your state. So violate the anti-commandeering statutes. Third, allow the Civil Rights Division to access voter rolls. All right. So when you see these three, and then here's the ransom.

10:07Michael Popok:I am confident that these simple steps will bring back law and order to Minnesota and improve the lives of Americans. The time has come for state and local officials in your state to change course, right, to make Minnesota safe again. So the judge said, how is that not trying to accomplish a policy change on the streets with this surge that you can't accomplish in a courtroom? Here's what they said in their filing. Now you got to wind up. Here's the pitch. and I'm like, okay, this ought to be good. All right. The Judge Menendez particularly told them, address the Bondi letter. Okay. Here's what they say about lots of things other than the Bondi letter.

10:53Michael Popok:Page one, their most important arguments always go on page one, right? To start, plaintiff's factual premise is unsupported. The purpose of Operation Metro Surge is to enforce federal law in Minnesota. The statements on which plaintiffs rely do not suggest anything different or expose a coercive motive. Instead, they reflect the fact that plaintiff's assistance with the enforcement of federal immigration law would likely lead to fewer federal resources to be deployed in Minnesota. This is common sense, not commandeering. They don't even mention the Bundy letter, which is supposed to be the focus of the additional briefing at all by name.

11:32Michael Popok:That's the best they got, a word salad with no legal cases next to it. So I said, all right, well, maybe, maybe I'm being, maybe Popak, you're being too hard on them. They'll pick up with it later in the brief, right? Brief that's only supposed to be about, about this issue. So I go to page four and they start talking for the first time on page four of a 10 page letter. So halfway through about, about the letter that the judge wants to know about. And they say, regardless, there is no hint of quid pro quo in the letter. You just heard the letter. She does not offer to trade or commit to end Operation Metro Surge.

12:15Really?

12:17Michael Popok:How do you interpret the language which they completely ignore? There are common sense solutions to these problems, and I hope we can accomplish them together. Your office must restore the rule of law. sent to the governor as preti is dead i just don't understand it um there's no hint of quid pro quo she does not offer a plaintiff's a trade to end operation metro surge instead citing adverse consequences of certain policy choices the letter attempts to find common ground that's that's one way common ground between the kidnapper and the kidnapped i guess that's one way to put it So I thought, well, maybe it'll get better if I keep turning pages.

13:00Michael Popok:And I get to page 9 of 10. Here's what they say. This is their summation. Putting it all together, plaintiff's theory is that a court can take any facially legitimate exercise of any federal power, probe behind it to discern an illegitimate subjective purpose to coerce states to follow federal preferences. You mean have it discovered in discovery and have public statements that see the light of day and end up in a courtroom? You mean that? And then enjoin the federal action and eject federal officers from the state? Exactly. Yes. Yes. A court can probe behind the exercise of federal power and decide whether it's legitimate or not.

13:40Michael Popok:Yes. But the fact that this is the best the Department of Justice can come up with in defense of their boss, Pam Bondi, is pathetic. Now, I don't know what Menendez, the judge, is going to do next. She's in a little bit on the horns of a dilemma. I can see from listening to her hearings and reading about them that she knows there's a constitutional violation, I believe. There's a violation of the anti-commandeering statute, of the state's rights statute, of the 10th Amendment, and many other things. But then she's got to thread the needle and find the right remedy to fix that violation. Can she, I think she's struggling with, ban and bar ICE and Border Patrol?

14:30Michael Popok:Can she end the operation? Or require many of the other things that the state is looking for? See, they're not looking exactly to end the operation. They just want new guardrails put up around it. So she's struggling with what are the guardrails she can put up around this that won't be rejected by the Eighth Circuit or ultimately the United States Supreme Court. We saw a preview of all of this in the National Guard cases. Eventually went to the Supreme Court and supported Donald Trump not being able to use the National Guard. Took a while. Took months of litigation through appeals at the Ninth Circuit, the Seventh Circuit.

15:07Michael Popok:up to the United States Supreme Court. And Menendez is handling another case involving First Amendment protesters. And she already tried to put up guardrails about ISIS interaction with First Amendment protesters. And that was rejected by the Eighth Circuit twice. So she's got that kind of overhang on her. But if there's going to be an order against the Trump administration, it's going to be on the Pam Bondi letter and Donald Trump doubling down on it as the government, Tim Walz, the governor, and Jacob Frey, the Minneapolis mayor, continue to set policy for the state. That's what they were elected to do.

15:52Michael Popok:We'll continue to follow it all right here on Legal AF and on the Midas Touch Network. Take a moment and come over to Legal AF YouTube, hit the free subscribe button, and help us continue to grow our sub stack as well. Till my next report, I'm Michael Popak. 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.

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