Trump’s Spin on Federal Judge’s Ruling Falls Apart

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0:45Michael Popok:As part of Todd Blanche's grilling today by the Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats, Keep an eye on footnote 63 of Judge Williams' 56-page order that came out just two days ago, a scathing rebuke of Todd Blanche, Stan Woodward, Donald Trump, and her finding bad faith and fraud on the court in the creation of the Anti-Weaponization Fund and in Todd Blanche's actions, for which she has referred him to bar disciplinary proceedings to determine what he's doing. whether he violated his oath of office as an attorney. But focus on footnote 63, because in footnote 63, the judge says, while you cannot call that thing that was created by a phony lawsuit between Donald Trump and those parties he controlled, the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department, you cannot call that thing, the Jan 6th Anti-Weaponization Fund, a settlement pursuant to the Judgment Act and pursuant to this lawsuit, which is invalid.

1:54Michael Popok:She said in footnote 63, if there is a private agreement, such as the one that Todd Blanch used the day after creating the Anti-Weaponization Fund, in which he released Donald Trump, Donald Trump's family, his affiliates, from all tax and audit liability and criminal liability, past and future, whether he knew it or not, he signed that document, one paragraph document himself. The judge says that is not before the court. And now the Department of Justice has come out and said that they are validating the release, that the release is still valid. This entire lawsuit and its purported phony bad faith settlement that was caught by Judge Williams was all a ruse, a smokescreen.

2:47Michael Popok:They did not care, Donald Trump did not care about the$1 ,776 ,000 ,000 fund. He cared about what Todd Blanch did the very next day, in which he signed a one-paragraph document, which Judge Williams calls a release, and Jamie Raskin, the House Judiciary Committee calls a super pardon. That's what Donald Trump has always wanted. This has been a giant shell game and we're catching it and pointing it out right now, this three-card Monty. And this footnote 63, which I'm going to read to you, is going to trip up Todd Blanche today. I'll be reporting throughout the day about the cross-examination because Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee from Illinois, he said he met with Todd Blanch and Todd Blanch said, I was set up.

3:38Michael Popok:There was a hatchet job by Judge Williams. I didn't give that type of release. Yes, you did. You probably don't know how to read a release since you were a criminal lawyer and not a civil lawyer like me. But let me tell you, you knew or should have known what you were doing. So let me focus on not only paragraph or footnote 63, but I want to go through the seven or eight places in Judge Williams' order that are going to be or have been already fodder for cross-examination for Todd Blanche. Epstein files and his role in the cover-up and the cover-up and the cover-up, yes. All of the prosecutorial misconduct and grand jury abuse and going after Donald Trump's political enemies and bad faith indictments.

4:24Michael Popok:Yes, the number one thing that Todd Blanche may get tripped up on and one vote may peel away from the Republicans on that committee when they finally vote and only one vote needs to depart in order to kill and have him die in committee is his handling of the Jan 6th Anti-Weaponization Fund and the release and super pardon to Trump, Trump family and his affiliates. I'm Michael Popak. You're here. We have our hands on the controls. We've got fighter pilot awareness, 270 degrees around about Todd Blanche. We're on to you, and we're going to report diligently all throughout the day. Let's get to the footnote.

5:06Michael Popok:After the judge declared that she had been had, that there was a fraud on the court, there was deceit on the court, there was a collusive lawsuit and settlement, and therefore the parties are barred and banned from ever referring to whatever happened after as a settlement of her lawsuit. They're not allowed to refer to it that way. And referred lawyers like Todd Blanche to their bar regulators for potential discipline. She said this in footnote 63. This is the dumb and dumber moment for the Department of Justice and Todd Blanch and Donald Trump. So you're saying there is a chance in paragraph 63.

5:43Michael Popok:Here's what she wrote. Again, as noted by plaintiffs, that's the Trump side in their brief, whether a private agreement between the parties as if there was no judge is valid and enforceable or is a depredation of the judgment fund, which is a statute I'll talk about in a minute, and an illegal conferral of immunity is not before this court. Now, what is she talking about? So the Department of Justice came up with the argument that they didn't need her lawsuit. They didn't need her approval. They didn't need a settlement under her lawsuit to accomplish the exact same thing. They could have settled with the Jan Sixers, and they're going to, by the way.

6:28Michael Popok:There's more than 700 federal tort claims acts submitted by Jan Sixers to get money from you and me for them having tried to burn down our democracy and to beat up law enforcement. They could have done that privately out the back door, right? And the question of whether, in addition, Todd Blanche, as part of some sort of settlement of no lawsuit, could have entered into an agreement to give Carte Blanche super immunity for civil and criminal indictments in the future or tax and audit liability in the future. She said, that's not before me. What's before me is you used this court, the legitimacy and the imprimatur of this court to do something you are not allowed to do.

7:15Michael Popok:Whether you can do it behind my back and without the court involvement, that is for another lawsuit. The Department of Justice, according to new reporting, jumped up with, ha ha, thus the release, the super pardon for the Trump family is viable. That's not what she's saying. She's saying it just wasn't part of the subject matter of the case that's in front of her. Which means we need another case. We need another case. Or this will now flip over to Judge Brinkama, an Eastern District of Virginia judge, and have that particular issue about whether under any circumstances, a court, a Department of Justice can enter into an agreement on the superpardon, and give a super pardon, that may be for her or a future lawsuit.

8:07Michael Popok:Now, Todd Blanche has said to Dick Durbin 24 hours ago, I made a mistake on the Jan 6th Anti-Weaponization Fund. I made a mistake on the release and I'm being pilloried as a result. Let's see what he does throughout the day today when he's questioned, including by Dick Durbin or by Cory Booker or by Senator Blumenthal or by Senator Whitehouse. You know he's going to get softball questions from the Republicans, except for Tom Tillis of North Carolina and of the senator from Texas, Cornyn, who Donald Trump defeated in a primary with Ken Paxton. Let me read to you from other parts which I thought were fascinating and haven't gotten enough coverage here in Judge Williams's decision.

8:51Michael Popok:It says that on the same day, acting attorney general Blanche issued an order. This is the release that is referred to in paragraph 63, which referenced the settlement agreement and released the president, his relatives, companies and affiliates from any and all claims, counterclaims and causes of action that have been or could have been asserted against plaintiffs that arise out of any matters that were raised or could have been raised in this case about lawfare or weaponization undefined. any matters currently pending or that could be pending, including tax returns filed before the effective date before defendants or other agencies.

9:29Michael Popok:Unlike the settlement agreement, which was signed by purported representatives of both plaintiffs and defendants only, Acting Attorney General Blanche's signature was on the release order. She says on 25 over to 26, Judge Williams, considering the brief chronology, the silent docket and defendants deviation from basic litigation strategies pursued in similar cases, the court must conclude that defendants chose not to advance an interpretation of the law as the position of the United States that contravenes President Trump's opinion. It is clear that obeisance to the mandate of his executive order has been fulfilled by defendants' actions.

10:10Michael Popok:Therefore, not only does the executive order demonstrate Trump's espoused control over defendants' conduct in this litigation, it demonstrates President Trump's actual control in this litigation and that he completely controls it all. Let me go to page 29, in which she's extremely troubled by Todd Blanche's prior testimony on May 19th. She says, footnote 38, the court is extremely troubled by the testimony given by Acting Attorney General Blanche on May 19th, 2026. In response to why the settlement agreement had not been submitted to the court for review, he stated that there is no judge because the case had been dismissed and therefore there was no mechanism for reviewing the agreement.

10:56Michael Popok:While temporarily accurate, the judge says, this answer is at best misleading and at worst disingenuous. The court was available to review any pleading by any party at any time during the lawsuit. And if Acting Attorney General Blanche had thought the dismissal was improvidently granted or thought plaintiffs misspoke when they said no judicial analysis is appropriate, he only had to file an appearance and ask for relief. Let me move on. She says on paragraphs 37 and 38, in dismissing the non-party's claims of collusion, plaintiffs reveal the true position of the parties, that's Trump's side, and say the quiet part loud.

11:39Michael Popok:Regardless of whether plaintiffs had ever filed this action, the government and plaintiffs still had the power to resolve all disputes between the parties. This is the key to the Department of Justice saying, we still have a release for our boss. He still gets the super pardon. The power to resolve was never a question before this court. Whether executive branch actors can privately agree to give themselves and their former clients blanket immunities and billions of dollars in tax monies for legally undefined grievances was never an issue advanced to this court. The question is whether the parties could do so by claiming to be adverse and engaging the legitimacy of a court proceeding.

12:16Michael Popok:The answer is a resounding no. The lead plaintiff and the government are one, a fully realized unitary interest because plaintiffs have no answer for the fact that the lead plaintiff directs and controls the defendants, that being Trump, this renders the lawsuit non-adversarial, collusive, and jurisdictionally improper. And because this fact was so obvious and so insurmountable, Judge Williams writes on page 38, the court finds this matter was brought for an improper purpose, to gain the imprimatur of judicial legitimacy for a settlement that had no viable basis in law or fact. It was observed in another matter brought in this district.

12:57Michael Popok:This case is, as was observed in another matter brought in this district, this case is part of Mr. Trump's pattern of misusing the court to serve political purpose. She's referring to Judge Middlebrooks in a case brought by Alina Habba against Hillary Clinton and the Democrats and a fine of over a million dollars. And yet to this moment, the Department of Justice still believes that there is a viable superpartum in favor of Donald Trump. And Todd Blanche is answering for that today as a result. As I've said at the top of this hot take, don't be distracted by the fun. The Department of Justice will find ways for Donald Trump to pay off the people who were insurrectionists who attacked our democracy through the back door of the Federal Tort Claims Act and private quiet settlements you'll only know about after they announce them without having a fund.

13:53Michael Popok:Forget the fund. That was always a smoke screen to cover up for Donald Trump and his family, getting what he couldn't get from the United States Supreme Court and John Roberts. He got from his attorney general nominee the pardons that he always wanted and to be released of hundreds of millions of dollars, if not more, of tax liability and exposure. That's it, folks. That was the magic trick. I just described it to you. We'll continue to follow throughout the day what happens with Todd Blanche and whether he's ultimately going to be confirmed and whether one day is going to be enough. I doubt it with all of the scandal millstones hanging around Todd Blanche's neck.

14:32Michael Popok:I doubt one day is going to be enough. Until my next report later today, I'm Michael Popak. either. 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.