LIVE: Popok Gives URGENT UPDATE on Breaking Legal news | 1/20/2026

What this episode is about

Michael Popac delivers an urgent update on significant legal developments, featuring guests Sky Perryman, founder of Democracy Forward, who discusses the achievements of her organization in defending the rule of law against Donald Trump, as well as the implications of recent unauthorized access to private social security information. Additionally, Lisa Phillips, a leader in the sex abuse survivors movement, highlights her efforts for judicial oversight in the ongoing Epstein-related investigations.

Key takeaways

• In the age of information, privacy's a fragile illusion—just ask the Social Security numbers in Doge's care.
• Minnesota's protestors are the brave blueprint, daring to challenge Trump's tactics while he plays victim.
• When survivors lead, justice should follow—yet the DOJ seems to be stuck in a document gridlock.
• Davos 2023: even fictional cartoon flags can’t shield Trump from European leaders putting him in his place!
• Misplaced cars and misplaced priorities—both highlight how life and politics can get lost in the shuffle.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Michael Popach (Host) · 57 min speaking
• Sky Perryman (Guest) · 16 min speaking
• Lisa Phillips (Guest) · 8 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 10:00: Michael Popach, Sky Perryman, Democracy Forward, New York, New York
2. 10:00 – 20:00: Democracy Forward, Sky Perryman
3. 20:00 – 30:00: Democracy Forward
4. 30:00 – 40:00: Democracy Forward, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), New York, New York
5. 40:00 – 50:00: Democracy Forward, Michael Popach, Sky Perryman, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
6. 1:00:00 – 1:10:00: Sky Perryman, Democracy Forward
7. 1:10:00 – 1:20:00: Michael Popach, Democracy Forward, World Economic Forum, New York, New York

Notable quotes from "LIVE: Popok Gives URGENT UPDATE on Breaking Legal news | 1/20/2026"

• I'm going to be bringing on Sky Perryman. You're not going to want to miss Sky. She's the founder of Democracy Forward and through her hundreds of other organizations are all…

  about Democracy Forward · at 0:37

• One of the leaders of the sex abuse victims and survivors movement. She's an Epstein survivor and Thor, and she led the charge with a new filing that she made to implore a…

  about New York, New York · at 1:50

• Pay billions of dollars to get on the board even if they're dictators, even if they're conducting a war and what not only is happening in Greenland, but also with Hamas and…

  about Hamas · at 3:24

• Security Administration, where Doge was seeking to misappropriate people's personal information. And so we filed a lawsuit, won a court order that the administration took up…

  about Sky Perryman · at 19:51

• And I will just give a shout out because at democracy forward, we work in collaboration and in community with so many organizations, with the state AGS, with communities across the country. So, we really want you to learn about us and.

  about American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) · at 41:12

• To brief our audience along with me on those particular issues. As people know, full disclosure, I'm representing Lisa Phillips. the POPAC firm filed that declaration on her…

  about Michael Popach · at 42:34

• Just do a quick around the world in Donald Trump time. Okay. Davos, Switzerland is where the World Economic Forum is held. It's hosted this year by the leader of BlackRock…

  about World Economic Forum · at 1:09:55

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Michael Popach — Person · Host / main speaker · 5 mentions · first at 0:00
  Host of 'The Intersection' on the Midas Touch Network; conducts interviews with Sky Perryman and Lisa Phillips and provides commentary on Trump, Minnesota events, and legal developments.
• Sky Perryman — Person · Main guest (legal advocate/expert) · 6 mentions · first at 0:37
  Interview guest and founder of Democracy Forward; discusses litigation against 'Doge' and alleged improper access to Social Security data, court orders, and compliance issues.

Companies & orgs

• Democracy Forward — Company · Case study · 16 mentions · first at 0:40
  Organization fighting against the Trump administration's policies, mentioned for its legal actions and achievements.
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) — Company · Collaborator · 3 mentions · first at 32:24
  Organization working alongside Democracy Forward in legal battles against the Trump administration.
• Hamas — Organization · Entity involved in the conflict · 1 mention
  Hamas is a significant political and militant organization in the context of the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Places & events

• World Economic Forum — Event · Event · 1 mention · first at 1:10:00
  Mentioned in the context of global economic discussions and Trump's participation.
• New York, New York — Place · Setting · 3 mentions · first at 2:01
  Mentioned in the context of legal actions and the Epstein case.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 We are at the intersection. I'm Michael Popac and welcome to I guess we call it the the solo podcast for Michael Pop or as my wife likes to joke, it's for people who aren't getting enough of their popac. We now have this show on the Midas Touch Network on Tuesday nights. All kidding aside, we appreciate everyone being here, helping us build this community together. With your help, we've already reached the top of the charts on YouTube. Let's get into the important things. Today I got two special guests on this very special intersection. One um uh in a little bit I'm going to be bringing on Sky Perryman. You're not going to want to miss Sky. She's the founder of Democracy Forward and through her hundreds of other organizations are all united to defend this rule of law, this constitutional republic against the lawless Donald Trump. There's two things I want to talk to Sky about. one is kind

0:57 of a summary of what she and her team of lawyers and other affiliated groups have been able to accomplish in just a year. You you'll want to sit down for this one and you'll be, I think, quite pleasantly surprised to hear the stats and the numbers. But there's also a new bombshell reporting with a filing in one of her cases involving your and my private social security information. Yes, Doge is back where the government having to file yet another mayulpa. I'm sorry, another correction of the record in a filing that Yeah, it looks like Doge was rumaging around our confidential files in violation of a federal court's order more than we thought. And I want to talk to Sky about that. Then I'm going to bring on Lisa Phillips. She is the leader uh of the uh one of the leaders of the sex abuse victims and survivors movement. She's an Epstein survivor and Thor, and she led the charge with a new filing that she

2:01 made to implore a federal judge in New York to get the Department of Justice out of the process completely and have federal judge oversight to find and produce the millions of documents that the government by its own admission has related to the Epstein files, but has been slow walking and foot dragging for over 6 weeks. We're still stuck on 12,000 documents instead of the millions of documents they've identified. And it must come to an end. And when survivors lead, justice follows. You're going to want to hear my interview live with Lisa Phillips. And then I'm going to have to catch everybody up and catch myself up and what's going on in the world around us, the world that Donald Trump is hellbent on destroying. We're gonna talk about Greenland and Donald Trump's AI cartoon of him planting a flag in Greenland on his way into Davos for the World Economic Conference. He thought it was going to be his coronation at Davos.

3:03 But the European leaders have another thing in mind as they all fight back led by McCron from France, led by Mark Cardi from Canada, and basically told Donald Trump to stick it there. There it is. Stick it where the sun doesn't shine. um in terms of the Gaza quote unquote peace board dominated by uh people willing to pay billions of dollars to get on the board even if they're dictators, even if they're conducting a war and and what uh not only is happening in Greenland, but also with Hamas and Israel. We bring it all together. I connect the dots on the intersection. I'm so pleased you're here. Sorry we're just a a tad late. I had a little personal issue, not emergency, little personal issue. Uh, I misplaced not my car keys, misplaced my car. You know, you know, now you're working all day and you park in one lot and you think that's the lot your car is in and you realize there's a twin doppelganger lot on the other side of

4:04 the building and for about a moment you panic that somebody has maybe driven away with your car. See how life intrudes even on the intersection. I wanted to share that with you. I wanted to thank thank the Coral Gables police who came over and and disabused me of my thought and also a good friend of mine Orlando who was there for it. But we're here. We're back on the air. This is amazing. I want to start with Minnesota because Minnesota is not just about Minnesota and motans. Although they are brave and courageous in fighting back against the Trump administration, they are leading and they are the blueprint that we must follow on how to oppose the Trump administration. Every time something goes wrong, every time one of his depraved policies leads to somebody being maimed or killed, I'm talking about Donald Trump, he blames the US citizens. He blames Democratic officials. He opens up criminal

4:56 investigations. And and we have on the other side of that people like Attorney General Keith Ellison, angels that walk on planet Earth that are out there with the other attorneys general who are willing willing to put their own careers on the line to protect America and what's going on in Minnesota with the threat of bringing in US military boots on the ground in Minnesota. And we know what Keith Ellison's going to do because he told me in a recent interview and we're going to bring all that together right here. Let's start with how this all kind of kicked off. We're following it on the Midas Touch Network with daily hourly coverage of the protest in Minnesota. And in addition to that, we've got, of course, the death, the tragic murder of Renee Good, a mother, a wife who just was going down for peaceful protest, having dropped her six-year-old off at a charter school, sat in a car, honking the horn, blowing

5:58 a whistle, smiling and smiling and telling her future murderer in the next few minutes, "Bro, I'm not mad at you. I'm not mad at you at all." And then they executed her on the streets of Minnesota. And Donald Trump has the balls. I'm I'm just going to call it I don't blow smoke or sunshine anywhere in my life. I certainly don't do it on the intersection. He had the he has the balls to wrap himself in in her her courage and say that that oh it was a tragedy, a tragic death. Seems like a very good person. But what he really is really worried about is that is that he wants her parents, the grieving parents of the murdered Renee Good at the hands of ICE goons of Donald Trump to still love him as he took to a uh a um sort of a rambling uh disjointed uh just stream of consciousness press conference today where the White House handlers who are not doing a very good job of handling him. Decided we better

7:04 give him something to do. I know. Let's give him a binder that says accomplishments on the side and let him go up to the I'm like, is this is he like nine years old? Is this is this a participate a p sorry a participation certificate? He's going to go up there and talk about his accomplishments because somebody handed him a binder and patted him on the head and said, "Go talk about it." Of course, then he takes the name of Renee Good in vain. Let's play a clip first before we get to Trump. His own propagandists such as Carolyn Levitt.

7:41 Rather than answer the question about how the Trump administration can take the position that ICE is doing everything right when you have 40 people who died in custody and a couple of people blinded in California and a and a murdered Renee Good who got shot in the head three times, how can she pos? Rather than answer the question, she attacks the journalist. Let's play the clip.

8:00 Earlier you were just defending ICE agents generally and earlier on Secretary Nolan spoke to the media and she said among other things that they are doing everything correctly. Um 32 people died in ICE custody last year. Uh 170 US citizens were detained by ICE and uh Renee Good was shot in the head and killed by an ICE agent. Uh how does that equate to them doing everything correctly? Why was uh Renee Good unfortunately and tragically killed?

8:29 Are you asking me my opinion? Because an ICE agent acted recklessly and killed unjustified.

8:34 Oh, okay. So, you're a biased reporter with a leftwing opinion. What do you want me to do?

8:38 Yeah, because you're a left-wing hack. You're not a reporter. You're posing in this room as a journalist. And it's so clear by the premise of your question and you and the people in the media who have such biases but fake like you're a journalist. You shouldn't even be sitting in that seat. But you're pretending like you're a journalist, but you're a left-wing activist. And the question that you just raised in your answer proves your bias. You should be reporting on the facts. You should be reporting on the cases. Do you have the numbers of how many American citizens were killed at the hands of illegal aliens who ICE is trying to remove from this country? I bet you don't. I bet you didn't even read up on those stories. I bet you never even read about Lake and Riley or Joselyn Nungare or all of the innocent Americans who were killed at the hands of illegal aliens in this country. and the brave men and women of

9:21 ICE are doing everything in their power to remove those heinous individuals and make our communities safer and shame on people like you in the media who have a a crooked view and have a a biased view and pretend like you're real honest journalist.

9:38 How many innocent Americans have been killed as a result of Donald Trump's policies? You keep talking about Lake and Riley, which was a tragedy, but the ve the vast majority into the 95th percentile of migrants and people that come to this country for a better life are not killing other people. They hold them up um as examples in order to distract attention. She never answers the question. He the reporter said, "What's inaccurate about my how the question that I've posed?" She then asked him for his own opinion. What's he supposed to say? Oh, I'm just an automaton. I'm just AI. I don't have any opinions about anything that I write.

10:16 And then of course to to make it about the reporter instead of about answering the questions. That's what this press secretary does. She doesn't have the right to be in that room nor in this administration and should be ultimately removed. And even Donald Trump doesn't agree with um apparently she didn't get the memo with Carolyn Levit because he had to concede during his press conference that ICE makes mistakes. Let's play the Let's play the clip.

10:43 They're going to make mistakes sometimes. Ice is going to be too rough with somebody or, you know, they're dealing with rough people. Uh they're going to make a mistake sometimes. It can happen. We feel terribly,

10:54 right? I feel terribly that my policies are maming and killing innocent Americans while I continue to have a surge of the military and maybe invoking the insurrection act um you know, as as a result. But the thing that galled me, that chapped my backside is he did it. This is the second time he's done it in five days when he had that phony propaganda CBS news uh interview with Tony Dopal. You know that guy that's trying to act like he's Edward R. Muro or Walter Kronite or Mike Wallace when he's asking softball questions. He actually has to wrap his question. And I saw the interview, the one that Donald Trump threatened to sue their ass off that they didn't play the whole interview like it's some sort of propaganda piece on his uh campaign website. And of course the cop's like, "Of course we're going to play." Oh, of course. Thank you, Mr. President. May I have another? And then he actually says

11:41 to him, "Well, many people who voted for you, there's so many people that voted for you, Mr. President." And then he he had the balls, Trump, to say, "She's a very good person." And I understand her parents are Trump supporters. And uh uh uh and then he goes further at the press conference today and says that the grieving parents of Renee Good, he hopes they still love him. play the clip.

12:05 The tragedy. It's a tragedy. It's a horrible thing. Everybody would say it. Ice would say the same thing. But uh when I learned her her parents and her father in particular is like was I hope he still is, but I don't know was a tremendous Trump fan. He was all for Trump. Loved Trump. And uh you know it's terrible. I was told that by a lot of people. They said, "Oh, he he loves you. He he was a I hope I hope he still feels that way. I don't know. It's hard hard situation. But her father was a tremendous and and parents were tremendous Trump fans.

12:44 What does that have to do with anything other than Renee Good was shot in the head three times by ICE. The Department of Justice under Donald Trump, his own number two, and former criminal defense lawyer Todd Blanch has announced to the world that they're not going to be doing an investigation related to it. are not going to be uh investigating whether uh Jonathan Ross, this the ICE agent, committed a crime or civil liberties deprivation of Renee Good. Uh and all he cares about, all he worries about is whether they still love him. I got I mean, I don't even have to talk to Renee Good's parents. I assure you that the grieving parents of a of a a a slain and murdered Renee Good do not still love you. And that should not be your main concern when you're sitting at a press conference. See, when he goes off script and the handler's like, "Let's give him something to do. Give him the binder that says accomplishments and let's see

13:37 how that turns out." And then Minnesota though has an adult in the room, has a legitimate law enforcement officer since the Department of Justice is completely captured and corrupted by Donald Trump. People like Attorney General Keith Ellison, who told me in an interview a couple of very interesting things. One, he said, "I I um the National Guard may be brought out in order to protect motans from its own federal government." Think about that. He's prepared to run into court if Donald Trump tries to do a phony invocation of the insurrection act to put military troops on the ground just like we did in Portland, Oregon. Uh just like we did in San Francisco. He's ready for that. remember that and he's ready to prosecute if the facts lead him there. A federal officer like Jonathan Ross now that the government has abdicated responsibility and has already rushed to the conclusion and rushed to

14:34 judgment to protect the ICE officer. Then it's up to U attorney Attorney General Ellison to step in. Here's a clip of Attorney General Attorney General Ellison in my interview. I mean, you got 3,000 plus ICE agents in a city where we only have 600 police officers who are I mean, obviously there's not enough, you know, targets of their stated goal, undocumented people who have a history of crime and violence. There's not enough of those people for them to only do that. So, what are they doing? They're stopping citizens. They're beating up people. They're demanding people to show their papers. They're saying, "Your accent sounds different to me. Where are you from? Prove prove it."

15:23 They're uh causing a tremendous drop in our economic activity and commercial activity, requiring massive mutual aid assistance programs. They are violating people's rights. They are teargassing people. They are beating up people. They are profiling people

15:44 and we are fortunate to have the 23 Democratic attorneys general who are doing their job led by people like Keith Ellison, Rob Bont, Chris Maize in Arizona. And I'm going to have the uh privilege of meeting with them when they get together in San Francisco in February for some exclusive briefing related to that. What's going on in Minnesota? Just to round it out, we got Judge Mendez sitting over two cases. one involving the First Amendment protesters. She's already entered a preliminary injunction to protect First Amendment protesters. There we go. To make sure they're not shot in the face with pepper balls and other uh and other illegal acts and having their Fourth Amendment rights against illegal search and seizure violated. That's going to be up on appeal to the ETH circuit. She's also presiding over the case that Keith Ellison's office, the state has brought to stop the surge and to have a whole

16:37 list of things in including harsh border patrol tactics being used in Minnesota against US citizens come to an end. She's going to be holding a hearing on that in the next week and we'll report back on everything in Minnesota as Donald Trump so far has not exercised the interrection act. But I'm I'm telling you, Keith is ready. Uh Keith Ellison and his office are ready. And he's the person for the job. For those that don't remember, he's the one that prosecuted Derek Schovin, the the uh the rogue bad apple cop that crushed the life out of George Floyd. Yes. In Minnesota. and he's prepared to do it again, especially since the Department of Justice and FBI and Civil Rights Division have completely abdicated all responsibility to do anything in the name of Renee Good. And we're all Renee Good, right, at the end of the day. So, uh, we've got that one major group just to keep our thematics going here. And

17:34 then I want to turn to Democracy Forward. Democracy Forward, who's regularly with us, briefing our audience over on the Legal AF YouTube channel, is one of the public interest groups devoted to stepping in and running into the burning building and doing the things that the Department of Justice and civil rights divisions used to do. But when you have a rogue, outofcontrol, lawless presidency, administration, and department of justice, you need groups like Democracy Forward and their uh squadron of litigators and trial lawyers, many of them coming out of the Department of Justice to run into these courts to file their actions. And we've got some new breaking news and reporting related to your and my social security information and Doge, uh, which is now back in the news. And I can't think of anybody better to brief our audience than the founder of Democracy Forward, Sky Perryman.

18:34 Hi, Sky. Good to see you. Hi. You too. What a year. What a year. We're at the one year.

18:40 We are at the one year. Thanks for doing this with me. We've done kind of videos in the past, but this is a live. We got a great audience with us tonight and they're all they're asking great questions. Um we we were going to do and we can do that in the second part if you'd like. We were going to talk about what your organizations like yours and those that are affiliated with you have been able to accomplish in a year and it is it is quite jaw-dropping the the what you've had to do but also what you've been able to successfully accomplish.

19:07 But we got some breaking news about this new filing. Oh, oops. We made we made it. Oh, notice of correction to the record. Look how innocently titled this is. And we all saw it today and went, "Are you kidding me?" So, why don't you talk about the lawsuit that this is in, the judge that issued orders, and why this what looks like a very innocent piece of paper is actually uh quite quite devastating and and violates the orders of a federal judge.

19:38 Yeah, it's a bombshell filing for sure. So, um, this isn't a case that we brought early on last year when Doge, as you'll remember, was um, shock and awe around, um, the federal agencies, including, by the way, the Social Security Administration, uh, where Doge was seeking to misappropriate people's personal information. And so we filed a lawsuit, won a court order that the administration took up all the way to the Supreme Court, and I'll get there in a second, but won a court order that protected American social security data from Doge for a period of months uh for a period of weeks for or so we thought while this order was in place, while Elon Musk was coming around Washington.

20:22 And truly, as as everyone tuning in knows, um some of the most sensitive information is at the Social Security agency. people in this country uh pay their um taxes. They um engage with our social security offices and programs and so you have a lot of personal information. Everybody that has a social security number in this country has deeply sensitive personal information at the social security agency. So we took that very seriously and sued when Elon Musk was there and we were worried about what the Doge bros were doing with all of our personal data. It turns out that we were worried for good reason. Uh we secured a court order for a period of more than a month for a period of weeks while Doge was all around Washington. We thought as pursuant to this order that people's social security information was safe. Of course, the administration wanted to take the case up to the shadow docket. It did. The Supreme Court um

21:19 paused the order that we had the order that we had achieved. We were we're back at the fourth circuit now. We're vigorously continuing to litigate and pursue this case to protect all of our data. And then just out of the blue, a filing comes in to the district court that already ruled against the administration. Um, and it says notice of correction, and it's truly like an oopsie. Uh what the administration is now revealing is that while our court order was in place, uh uh personal data was misappropriated, that it may have actually been um that there was access that Doge had to portals that could have taken the data out of the federal government or at least out of the agency. So this is a major court compliance issue. It's also a major factual issue as the fourth circuit will start considering these things on appeal. Um it is deeply deeply uh problematic. Uh and it was a real bombshell to receive. Uh they filed it

22:20 late on a Friday night uh before a holiday weekend. Um and we will be pursuing this with Next Steps with the court. Uh but thank you for drawing attention to it. There's been a range of stories today from Politico to other outlets covering this.

22:33 Yeah, absolutely. And and uh as soon as we saw it, we were like, "Oh, we got we have Sky on. We're gonna have to get a direct briefing here about what happened. And and and no, because just because Trump fell out of love at a pier for a period of time uh with Elon Musk and he's no longer quote unquote in the cabinet meetings doesn't mean that all of his nefarious underhanded things um don't live on and aren't being pursued still in dozens and dozens dozens of cases, including yours. I mean, uh

23:06 this is just unbelievable. I mean there was a clear court order and you've seen our impact reports. You've seen I mean there and and I say unbelievable. We know the administration has on you know multiple occasions sought to skirt court orders. We have been having to fight that and force compliance on that. But this is really um unbelievable. And of course it's related to the election. And that's the piece of this is um you know it's not a mistake I think that all of a sudden the administration's filing this with the federal courts when there are a number of pending lawsuits around what the administration is doing with personal data, how they're seeking to undermine the election. Uh all of this, you know, is going to come out. One thing you and I talk about a lot, Michael, is that, you know, courts are really important to force this type of transparency. Without these cases, none of this would be coming out. And so,

23:58 it's not a mistake that, of course, as there's more and more cases on election integrity on what the administration is doing to try to undermine free and fair elections. All of a sudden, the Department of Justice feels like it has to come clean in this case. And so you will definitely be seeing and hearing much more from our incredible team at Democracy Forward and our clients on this.

24:18 I mean, one of the things we know that Elon Musk wanted to do was this big data. Create one, think about this,

24:25 right? One massive database of all US voter and taxpayer and resident citizen immigration information like like that wouldn't be hacked by the Chinese overnight. put it all in one place so that it could be searchable and then use AI on it. Do you have any do you have any uh understanding now or or or wonder or or belief or facts about whether what happened to that project? Is that still going on?

24:56 Well, it may be right because we're seeing that. The other thing that's deeply concerning about the uh document that you just put up on the screen that they filed with the court is that they admit that they had a relationship with a quote unnamed political advocacy organization. I mean, what does that mean and why are Americans data sort of in the mix of this? So, it's definitely dirty tricks and dirty business and we're going to get to the bottom of it. And the other thing is the American people have a right to privacy to their data under the privacy act in this country and there are even damages available if your um if your information is misappropriated and so that's going to have to be something to be pursued as well.

25:39 And I assume I mean are you're not in the discovery or exchange of information phase in your case right? Well, we are, you know, we've been up on appeal, but this we believe could potentially all change because now um there's not a there's not a you know, now there's more to the story. And one of the things courts are very good at is letting lawyers um with their clients get to uh the bottom of the story. And we think that of course what the administration has done here um with this just you know incredibly belated bombshell filing is um is is going to open the door up for that. So we'll have to come back and talk about more of that.

26:18 Yeah. One of my interpretations of seeing it was they know that there's going to be discovery one day and they're going to get caught with their hands in the cookie jar and they wanted to get out in front of it.

26:25 Exactly. especially and this is where you know we you were talking about the volumes of cases that the state ags have filed that organizations like democracy forward the ACLU other partners have filed um one of the reasons it's so important obviously the administration is breaking a law a minute so there's been so many of these cases but the other thing is um you know uh there's an old phrase in the south it's like get all the liars in the same room together and see what happens that's kind of what you do with these cases right because there's a number of cases now where the administration's having to make signed representations and they all start contradicting each other when you're not actually telling the truth. And so, um, you know, this this we we view this as, um, not a coincidence that they're coming clean, so to speak, not fully clean. We're going to have to make them do that in this case, while there are

27:14 other questions being asked in other cases. And it's a good example of why when we get asked, well, what does a state AG case have to do with this other case have to do with the case this other organization filed? It's very important that the American people have all of this representation. So, like I said, we can get all the liars in the same room and see what's going on here. And so, we we're going to pursue this obviously very vigorously. Um, given what it means for the American people's privacy and what it means for our election system.

27:40 Yeah. And Democracy Forward led by you is very good at getting all the liars into the room together. Let's talk about that's a that should be your new slogan, new motto, new

27:49 Yeah. You know, I mean it's like between that and the circular firing squads. I mean, this is what you do, you know.

27:54 Yeah. I I Yeah, absolutely. Let's let's uh switch gears for a minute and talk about, you know, a lot of organizations like yours are doing a look back about what you were able to accomplish both to alert the American public about the your success because, you know, sometimes we end up reporting seems like doom and gloom all the time. Although I'm very honest about not blowing smoke or sunshine when I do my reporting. Some some things are very very good. Some things I'm scratching my I mean we had an event today not to drag you into something that is not involving democracy forward but we got two competing orders today related to Lindseay Hallagan right we get the chief judge who says oh a vacancy was created today because 120 days expired and now we need to fill the j the the role of US attorney in the Eastern District and Judge Novak's going no the vacancy was created on November 24th when Judge

28:47 Curry issued her order. So like I came on the air with look I got to be frank here these are not consistent. I don't understand these two orders and but we reported it. So for you I think it's also and you could tell our audience how how as the as the head of the organization when you look at the results how does that help you move forward for 2026? It's not just about looking back in the rearview mirror right although that's important. tell our audience about, you know, the 400 cases, the 2,700 foyas, the all of that, all just this year against the Trump administration along with your affiliates.

29:25 So, overall, uh, what we've seen this past year is more than 600 federal lawsuits and even more if you consider lawsuits that are challenging immigration detentions. You can get, you know, even higher than that. um that have been ha that have been filed against this executive branch and that includes organ that includes lawsuits by the state ages. It includes lawsuits by us at Democracy Forward. It includes lawsuits by um you know the vast expanse of public interest organizations that are really stepping into this moment and you can learn more about that through our program at Democracy Forward called Democracy 2025 where we're actually coordinating with more than 675 organizations that are all committed to coordinating and sharing resources and making sure we meet this moment together. Um, out of all of those cases, and I'll talk about our specific ones, but out of all of those cases, the

30:12 administration's loss rate fluctuates between 70 and 80%. I mean, that is quite astonishing. And while we have been disappointed with some of the things that the Supreme Court has done, including the administration's insistence on taking so many of these cases up to the Supreme Court improperly on the shadow docket before there's even a record or full argument, less than 5% of all of these cases have has gone to the Supreme Court. So that's just a a bird's eyee view of all of it is that the administration is losing far more than it is winning. It is losing before judges that President Trump appointed, judges that Republican presidents appointed, and judges that Democratic presidents appointed. And despite the White House's bluster about, well, we're just going to go up to the Supreme Court. I mean, first of all, the Supreme Court has not rubber stamped everything they want. They've had to pull back the

31:00 National Guard from a number of states because the Supreme Court would not go with the administration on that. But even considering the fact that they've have have have had some success on the shadow docket at the Supreme Court, um less than 5% of all these cases are going there. So that's kind of the overall bird's eye view. And then at Democracy Forward, we're very honored to have represented clients in so many of those cases as well as in thousands of public records requests and other types of legal actions. Um, and so as we look back over the course of the last year at sort of, you know, where does all of this sift sift out, we see a few pretty large trends. I mean, one is the administration's governing by intimidation and retribution is being struck down by the courts. That typically uh the way the administration has chosen to govern here is flatly contrary to the first amendment. You cannot tell the nation's

31:58 pediatricians, because we don't agree with your scientific approach around vaccines, we're going to cut off all your federal funding. You cannot say to the American Bar Association, by the way, these are real cases that we had to file and win. But you can't say to the American Bar Association, because we're offended that you're reminding lawyers they have an obligation to the Constitution, we're going to cut, you know, a core federal grant program off for you. And so, we're seeing the First Amendment win. And of course, that's one of the theories that the ACLU of Minnesota had in this recent one we saw over the weekend in Minnesota around the protesters. So, as we move into the next year, those types of arguments and those types of cases, I think, continue to win. Um, the administration continues to overreach so extremely on its immigration agenda, which I really refuse now to call an immigration agenda

32:46 because it's not about immigration. and it's about a power grab that we have seen over the course of the last year nine justices of the US Supreme Court who do not agree usually on anything have to affirm that all people in this country whether you're a citizen or not however you got here everybody in this country gets due process gets some type of day in court before they're removed from the country and so you've seen those types of setbacks to um an agenda to the president's agenda you've seen setbacks to his National Guard um with the Supreme Court refusing to allow them to block the court order from Illinois.

33:23 And of course, we've secured a court order in um Memphis, which is the you know, first time the president sent the National Guard into a quote red state where their state AG was not inclined to sue uh their their city officials and elected officials in the state did. And we've blocked that. That's that's on appeal in the state court system. So, I think you see some setbacks. Now, the problem is this is an administration that is so intent on harming people that we can't stop all of the harm to people and communities, we can't stop what ICE did to Renee. We can't we can't stop it.

33:59 What we can do is hold them accountable on the back end through damages actions, through monetary actions, through bringing cases against individual officers. So, you're going to see that type of accountability work, more of that type of accountability work over the next year. You're going to see the cases not slow down, but accelerate because the president's extremism is going to accelerate. And I think what you're going to see is that the administration will struggle more on appeal and at the Supreme Court because their agenda is just so incredibly extreme. You will also see things like what we've been talking about tonight where the administration sort of tried to play too cute with the court or tried to resist transparency but after the course of a year more and more things come out and the American people can see for themselves what's happening. So I also don't do sunshine and roses. I

34:50 believe we are in the middle of a true crisis. We people and communities are hurting. No one's life has been made better. the rule of law is being undermined by the day and our democracy is truly in such peril we don't we can't say um how it is going to end but what we've seen over the course of the last year is that people do have power people do have strength and that when you push this administration we have seen them back down we've seen them back down in a lot of our cases not appeal wins they move on they they they sort of get distracted and move on and it is going to take a full court press and I mean that you know a full court effort a fullcourt press over the next year to continue to do what we've done and then to do more to protect our elections to continue to protect people and communities.

35:35 Well, let me give you some breaking news that proves your point that pressure matters. Pam Bondi has announced that Lindseay Hallan is out.

35:43 There you go. Not not only is the Eastern District of Virginia prosecutor, US prosecutor, US attorney, but out of the Department of Justice completely.

35:53 There you go. So, I mean, does that not let me just read it, Sky, then I'll have you react on the fly to it. Here's Pam Bondi. Of course, she doesn't lead with she's out. During her 120day tenure as the interim US attorney for the Eastern District, Lindseay Alligan served with the utmost distinction, unwavering commitment to the rule of law. She worked tirelessly, what since October to protect the more than six million residents of the Eastern District. Despite multiple unnecessary legal obstacles placed in her path, she stepped forward at a critical juncture.

36:27 Her departure is a significant loss for the Department of Justice. This is a this is a person who was made a prosecutor in October for the first time in her life. It's a significant loss apparently to the Department of Justice. While we will feel her absence keenly, we will confident that she will continue to serve her country in other ways. That means Donald Trump's going to kick her over to some other organization that he controls. This uh the circumstances that led to this outcome are deeply misguided. Blah blah blah. All right.

36:55 Now look, this guy on the air, it totally proves your point, does it not? That every day we see this every single day.

37:03 Exactly. They lost twice today. As I as I joke, they lost twice today. But it's also

37:09 about her. I mean, yes. But it's also I mean, we see this every day in all these cases. And at the same time, we have to hold that reality that pressure works.

37:17 Oh, yeah. Courage is the new currency. You're not getting out of this moment uh without standing up and pushing back. But when you do, it often works. And at the same time, this is an administration that is so intent on operating with a shock and awe so that they can try to scare people so that people don't believe they have power. We have to we have to deal with that too, right? And that's what you see with the harm and the pain that people are experiencing. But this is exactly what we've seen and it's exactly why when people say like, "Well, what are y'all going to do this year?" We are accelerating. We have grown our resources, grown our team. Um we are growing our collaboration. Uh it's amazing how many lawyers are working together to make sure that the right cases are brought at the right time.

38:03 It's not one single organization. It's not one single leader. It's not one single lawyer. And we are going to keep going and doing that because it is a core thing that has worked. Now against that, we have to help people tune out the noise. The White House anytime they even get half of when in any kind of court, they want to go out and do 4-hour press conferences on it because they're so desperate to try to convince people that the push back is not working and that people don't have power. So, one of the things we're very focused on at Democracy Forward this next year is making sure that people are building community, taking care of themselves and remembering that we do still get to be in charge in this country and we do still have the power and it's going to be harder this year because they are going to become more extreme. We, you know, the president, I mean, we're 20 days into this year and we've seen like

38:56 an invasion of Venezuela. I mean it is unhinged and extreme but we can push back and this is a great example because they double down on Hallagan over and over and over again and the courts every time just stopped it.

39:11 My my producer said this breaking news just happened. Do you want to do it after? I said no I got Sky. Let's do I can't throw off Sky. This is a perfect segue to the point she's making. Let's do it.

39:22 Let's do it. And we're going to see more of it. I mean we see it every day. Um, and that's one thing I wanted to point out because people ask me about, you know, the appeals and I guess we're under the White House's skin so much they p it seems like they pitched story to the New York Times recently to say like, you know, this district court stuff looks good, but as we go up on appeal, we're winning more. Well, that is not even based on any type of data. the administration often does not appeal or abandons their appeals in the cases where we're winning because they actually don't like to lose. I mean,

39:56 that's not reflected in the data. Right. Exactly. And so what you're seeing is some selective some selection of data. And my prediction is you're going to see even that data look better over the course of this next year because as they continue to be so unhinged, as they continue to lash out against judges and against lawyers, it is not something that these courts are going to abide. But it takes the people pushing. I mean, the courts aren't saving us. The people are. And that's what we're really keeping our our minds focused on this year. A

40:26 absolutely. And um just give our you have lots of organizations that are under your umbrella that work with you. But if people want to learn more about Democracy Forward and they want to get involved themselves, where should they go?

40:37 Go to democracy forward.org. Sign up for our newsletter. We do not spam you. People will people will vouch for us. We're not going to spam you. We're not going to lie to you and tell you if you rush $5 you're going to single-handedly hold up democracy. We're far beyond that. But sign up. Um you can learn more and be informed. We also have a lot of great opportunities to get engaged. Um, we have a dinners for democracy program, coffees for change, build some community with people, get together, don't let yourself get into despair because we're going to have to be strong this next year. And we have all of those resources at democracyforward.org.

41:12 And I will just give a shout out because at democracy forward, we work in collaboration and in community with so many organizations, with the state AGS, with communities across the country. So, we really want you to learn about us and support us. But if you are supporting a pro-democracy legal organization, thank you and keep supporting whatever organization that is as well.

41:32 And thank you, Sky Perryman, for coming on our live intersection and briefing our audience. It's always a pleasure. Um we we've got your back because we know you've got ours. Thank you for being here with us. We look forward to your next time with us.

41:47 Thank you. Thank you. and you're here on the intersection only on the Midas Touch Network. I'm Michael Popach. Um when we come back, we're going to have Lisa Phillips who's one of the leaders of the survivor movement. Um and she was the first one to inform federal judge Paul Angelmeire that the Department of Justice has effectively forfeited its right to be trusted any longer. joining together with the bipartisan congressional duo of Massie and Kana to try to convince the judge that he should appoint a special master and provide oversight and get to the bottom of why millions of documents are still being hidden and secreted by the Trump administration. And she'll join us to brief our audience along with me on those particular issues. As people know, full disclosure, I'm representing Lisa Phillips. the POPAC firm filed that declaration on her behalf because sometimes we I do the commentary and and

42:47 do the independent analysis and sometimes I got to jump off the sidelines and jump into the fray along with amazing clients and and courageous clients like Lisa Phillips. The intersection it's my solo ride I guess is the way to put it. Legal AF Wednesdays and Saturdays I do that of course with Karen Freeman McNo and Ben Marsales. I co-ounded that almost six years ago. got the YouTube channel where you can find a dozen videos a day, amazing interviews. We've got Democracy Forward. If you like Sky Perryman, then we have a whole playlist devoted to Democracy Forward and the dozens of times they've been on to brief our audience. The American Civil Liberties Union has now joined us as well in order to provide direct information and briefing so you can hear it right from the people that are in the courtrooms every day um along with other contributors. And we're also doing um some people may not know this, we're

43:41 also doing live uh uh streaming of major events at the intersection of law and politics. For instance, just in the next two days, starting tomorrow at 10:00 a.m., actually 9:30 a.m., I'm going to be doing along with Adam Klasfeld of All Rise News, a pregame show before the oral argument at the United States Supreme Court in the landmark issue of whether Donald Trump is going to be allowed by the MAGA 6 to take over the independence of the Federal Reserve, get his hands on interest rates, and send inflation through the roof. The Lisa Cook case is being heard tomorrow.

44:17 That's mustwatch, must listen to YouTube and we're doing the live stream along with our reporting at the beginning starting at 9:30 tomorrow on the legal AF YouTube channel. Uh later that day, the American Civil Liberties Union is hosting a town hall about civil rights, about civil liberties with Minnesota at the heart of it. You're not going to want to w miss that. And we're doing a simalcast live stream of the ACLU town hall also tomorrow under the live tab for the YouTube channel. On Thursday, we're going to be showing the live of uh the live stream of Jack Smith. Yeah, he's back. Special counsel doing a live sworn testimony before the House Judiciary Committee ranking member for the Democrats, Jamie Rascin. every member uh including all the Democrats get five minutes with Jack Smith. Different format than the deposition that he gave back in early December. Again, we'll do a pregame show and you're not going to

45:23 want to miss it. If you want to support all the ways we've expanded for 2026 on Legal AF, we now have two more Legal AF branded podcasts. We've got uh unprecedented a Supreme Court show I do once a week with Dina Dah and Court of History our resident historian Sydney Blumenthal and Sean Wentz. If you want to become a card carrying member of the legal AF community, become a become a subscriber or a paid subscriber. New status on Legal AF YouTube or come over to our Substack which now I think we're number five and rising in all US politics on Substack. If you don't know that community, come over there. Check us out. I'm doing two live reports every day on Legal AF Substack. We have content you're not going to find anywhere else. It's for all the Legal AF uh what's the word I'm looking for? Die Hards that can't get enough. Come over to the Legal AF Substack. And then supporting the intersection, the new

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48:45 AF and on the intersection. And I'm so pleased now we get our audience back together again after after our commercial break. I'm so pleased to bring on um Lisa Phillips. Lisa, how are you?

48:58 Hey, I'm doing great. A little under the weather, but I'm but I'm good. Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I know you recently celebrated a birthday. Congratulations and happy birthday.

49:07 Um and full disclosure, Lisa, um you're my client. and I represented you in a recent filing that was made in which and there's the filing. Um, and how we got there was Judge Angeler, a judge who the Trump administration and Department of Justice ran to in order to get him to quote unquote release the Epstein files as if they were with him and not with the not with the executive branch all along. They to be clear to our audience, the Trump administration never needed congressional approval, never needed judicial approval. They have always been sitting on the mountain of evidence, but they've been working overtime to protect the the commander-in-chief, the president of the United States, and they're conflicted as a result because he really doesn't want full disclosure.

49:57 And so Angel Meyer, they ran to Angel Meer, but they didn't like it when Congressman Massie and Connor said, "Well, you're in federal court. Why don't we intervene in the case and ask for them asked for the judge to to provide oversight since we're sitting on the same 12,000 documents for the last six weeks when they've already disclosed there's millions more? What's the delay? Judge, please take over. Let us file a brief to to do that." And the judge came back with an order and said, 'I'm kind of like, and I'm paraphrasing, I'm interested to hear more about my power and authority to appoint a special master over this process. The parties are only Galain Maxwell of all people and the US. I haven't heard from a victim

50:45 and I'd like to hear more. So when we saw that, you said, "What did you say?" Mhm.

50:53 Well, I wanted to say what's important is that the federal judge didn't ask for another like political argument or another DOG explanation. He specifically asked whether a victim needed to be heard. So that's the reason why, you know, I spoke to you about it and said we have to do something because this matters and up until now survivors have been talked about. We we haven't been centered. And when the federal judge opens the door and says essentially, is there a survivor who wants to speak to how this is being handled? That's not something you ignore. You know, this was the time to do it.

51:25 Yeah, absolutely. And it's uh it's gotten some coverage and some press and and even representative uh Kana and Massie in their own filing today referenced your affidavit along with another survivor written, you know, one of the lawyers there wrote a letter to the judge related to it encouraging the judge to exercise his inherent authority to take the Department of Justice out of the process that they have effectively forfeited their right. they can't be trusted with this process. How do you feel about it? I mean, you you were on Cap, we had a picture of you up there.

52:01 You've been fighting hard with the other survivors on Capitol Hill and everything that's happened is really because of your courage. You know, the bill getting the discharge petition getting the signatures, the almost 434 members of the House signing on to it, all of the Senate, even Donald Trump being pressured politically to sign it is all because of you. And yet we're still sitting here six weeks later on the same stinking 12,000 pages. What's what's your view on that?

52:29 Well, the difference now is survivors live with the consequences of delay and the mishandling. This is like something that we deal with. We're on group chats. We talk about this all the time. It's frustrating for us. And this isn't theoretical for us. the DOJ being late, changing its story, releasing only a fraction of the files that causes real emotional harm and retraumatization. And there are 1,200 survivors. People need to understand that's a very large number of victims that are dealing with this dayto-day, whether they're outspoken or not. And the judge needed to hear that directly, not filtered through agencies or politics.

53:11 Absolutely. And and and and I want people to understand this was this journey of yours, which I want you to talk about a bit to go from survivor, somebody who was abused by the child sex trafficking ring and Maxwell and Epstein to somebody who stepped forward out of the out of the I don't want to say the shadows. You were never in the shadows, but but under the shade of what had happened to you, but to step forward and be a leader in this area. Talk a little bit about your uh journey. Well, my journey always started with sticking up for other survivors. I started speaking out in 2019 because of Virginia G. Frey. She came forward and started telling her story. And I remember thinking, wait a second, I can support her story because I know what she's saying is true. I mean, I just happened to be on the island when she was there with the person that she was reporting had abused her. And I had seen many

54:09 things going on in the early 2000s. Uh I was a model during that time and um Epstein had introduced me to uh Katie Ford at the Ford Modeling Agency, which I just thought was kind of weird at the time that um they had this relationship, but come to find out uh just just a couple years ago that there was a more nefarious relationship going on between the ming industry uh heads of these agencies and Epstein. So, it infuriated me and I needed to know answers. And so, part of this whole journey is really just finding answers. A lot of it is is um unknown.

54:48 Um we can kind of connect the dots and we still are. Um as survivors come forward just now with uh finding out a lot of us were sent to NYU or to Colombia to get an education through a scholarship through Epstein. This is the findings that um when survivors come together, we're pretty powerful because we connect the the dots ourself. So part of speaking out really was to support other survivors and you know to go through the healing myself to get answers myself but also still to to be in this fight for survivors. Um and as the public has seen, they want answers too. So it's not just us. I think it's a collective consciousness right now going on in the US where we all want to know what the heck is going on and still and still having this foundation of knowing that there is a sex trafficking ring. So this is a human issue. It's not so much of a political issue for us.

55:48 Yeah. I mean never in our history has a presidential administration worked so hard to cover up an international child sex trafficking ring. I mean, it's not like I can I can't make a comparison. So, I'm like, well, yeah, Garfield. Oh, Hoover. I mean, this is this is one of one. This is Donald Trump because of his conflicts of interest and the nature of his relationship with two child sex traffickers, one convicted and one dead. um and his uh willingness to do anything, even sacrifice his own whatever legacy he has, of course, is lays a treads at his feet. But he's willing to sacrifice it all in order to cover up for two child sex traffickers rather than siding with the victims. He meets with so many people in the White House from reporters to oligarchs to bootlickers and syncopants. Has he ever invited you or any of the survivors to meet with him in the White House? No,

56:47 no, no. You barely got an audience with some of the Republican female members of Congress right?

56:55 Yeah. A few of them said they would show up for us, but in the end they they ended up not.

56:59 Yeah. And so, um, our audience is here, several hundred thousand people will watch and listen to this podcast over the course of the next day. We've got an amazing audience tonight. What is it that you want to tell them directly about how they can support your efforts and the importance of that?

57:19 Well, I believe uh the federal judge, you know, the letter that we sent was to get an independent monitor and I believe the federal judge is listening to us. This is the time he's finally saying, "Wait a second. I want to hear from the from the victims." And the judge is being asked to decide whether the Department of Justice can be trusted to oversee itself here and the record says it can't. and there are millions of documents. Um, we are months months behind the legal deadline and that's infuriating for us because we fought so hard to get that and we're not getting anything. We're getting like bits and pieces and confusion and it's it's pissing people off. Uh, the victim's names have been already been mis mishandled as well. Why why are you redacting the powerful men? Sorry. Why why are why are you redacting the the victims and not the powerful men? I don't I don't I don't get it. Like the victim's names

58:16 have been out there. Why would you do that to them? So, it's almost like they're poking at at you a little bit and and and playing with us. And it's um it's so important that an independent monitor or a special master, it isn't is it isn't extreme. It's an it's an oversight and it's accountability. It just it just needs to happen. And so this is really important for all of us survivors to get um some sort of person that oversees everything so the victim's names aren't out there and the actual perpetrators names are.

58:47 Yeah. We had it on the Midas Touch Network and Legal AF about three weeks ago. They had a document where they redacted the name of some DOJ contractor. Like that's is he involved in the sex trafficking ring? Is he the victim? Why is why why we should know who that person is? That's the point of full transparency, which of course is not the goal of this administration. This goal of this administration is to is when bad things happen, make them happen slower. And you're watching it in full view. Now, from from an Epstein survivor and working not just on Capitol Hill, you've been working around the country to help get laws passed to help adult and other survivors be able to bring civil lawsuits like in California, right?

59:34 Yeah. Talk a little bit about your work act. It's opening up in It just opened up in January again. It was It opened up in 2019 and it opened up again so that victims can go back five years, 50 years and go after their abuser.

59:46 Yep. so important. This is so important because so many victims, they live with this shame and this heartache of not getting justice for so long that this gives them a window to go back and feel like they have some power over their own agency again.

1:00:01 And the way you've been mistreated and victimized again by the Trump administration, insulted as you said or suggested, been trolled by them, which is not the right place to be. You're supposed to be on the right side of the angels when when you're dealing with these kind of issues. has this sort of lit a fuse for you in terms of what in the future, let's say we get all the Epstein files out and that finally is accomplished. What's the kind of the next chapter or the continuation chapter for for you for Lisa Phillips because people now know about you, they want to follow you and support you and what are you doing next?

1:00:35 Well, I'll always be uh fighting uh for survivors rights. That's the most important thing for me. Um, I also have a podcast working on season two to get that picked up by a network. We're in talks right now. And for me, that's just the biggest move just to be able to have survivor voices be heard and be seen and be validated. And um, we'll also speak to people like you and experts and people that are shifting the narrative and and making um, big changes in this world. I I really believe that people need to understand what's going on uh when it comes to sexual abuse in our society.

1:01:16 Yeah. One of the things that you were instrumental in helping to break a week or a week or so ago, we covered it with a good interview between, you know, that we had on on legal AF was this linkage between major universities, Jeffrey Epstein and um the survivors where they were being used to coers um survivors to stay within the layer, the predatory layer of Jeffrey Epstein and Galain Maxwell. The big carrot was, "Oh, I'll pay for NYU. I'll get you into Colombia, you know, um I'll pay your tuition and then even according to the Wall Street Journal and some investigation on the h at the house side money being money laundered through these universities to be through by Epstein pay overpaying them for tuition so that the victims could get cash that it it wouldn't show up on uh you know direct payments from him. So in other words, money laundering through major universities. I don't know if you saw today Goldman Sachs has a

1:02:15 problem. Its general counsel apparently was very close with Jeffrey Epstein and either represented him, it was in his will as an exeutor. She's the general counsel of Goldman Sachs, the leading financial services uh uh entity or firm in the world probably. And she's tainted with Jeff with the Jeffrey Epstein part. So, um, talk a little bit about, as we end here, talk talk about the NYU major university thing for those that might have missed the story, um, and which has now opened up an entire new follow the money aspect of the Epstein child sex trafficking ring.

1:02:54 Well, when I spoke out on Capitol Hill, it was really to speak out to survivors to come forward, and that's what they did. And um you know I just wanted to inspire and empower women out there to not hold on to your shame. And you know we were young when this happened. We didn't know. And um learning about grooming and corion is really important. That's why I started the podcast to begin with was just to understand how victims get pulled into this layer. And um I didn't understand why back then Jeffrey had offered me to go to NYU. I I mean obviously I thought it was because I was an actress and like you know Tish is a great program but um I always wondered why he was pushing that uh after NYU had already told me that I couldn't go. They said you're already doing TV commercials. You have to you can't be a working actress if you're going to be in this program. But he said, "Oh, don't worry. I'll make a

1:03:50 phone call." And I ended up not going with that program. But it always stuck in my mind. And I had a girlfriend at the time who I would notice like you're going to NYU on Jeffrey's paying for it. Like I couldn't understand. I mean obviously now I understand what was going on with her but she was so quiet and shameful about it. She wouldn't speak up to me about it or anyone during those I mean this 20 something years ago. Um and so now it's like okay that that's what was going on. And other women came forward after I spoke out in November and said, "You know what? I also was sent to NYU by Jeffrey Epstein.

1:04:25 I was sent to Colombia. I was sent to this art school. He was paying for it." And we all said, "Well, why was he paying for it?" Why? To keep us in his network. So, if you're paying for a school, obviously you have to go to school for at least two or four years. So, he keeps you in that network. And then even more, a lot of people don't want to think like this, but a lot of times he's grooming these women to become uh more educated and more ready to for society so that he could introduce you to these men in the network. A lot of these women became the wives of very powerful men. And um I know there is some talk about how Melania, you know, met Epste on the island. I don't know if that's a fact or not, but this is the type of thing that Jeffrey was doing, introducing beautiful young, ambitious women, educating them, getting them visas to work in the United States and um teaching them about

1:05:19 society, uh introducing them to these men who were later trafficked. And you're wondering, oh, I wonder why they're all hitting on me. Well, now we know why. Um, so it was just this confusion around so many hundreds of women during that time, but nobody really understood what was going on until now. And we're still peeling that onion right now to this day. Still finding out more of uh what's really going on. So for me, the main thing in releasing these files is just to really understand what is going on with our government and why it's been protected for so many years. And that we're seeing with our current president, why why is he hiding all this information? We we as the American people, not just the survivors, need to understand what is going on. And we need answers. And this is the only way to do it with with you sending the letter to the judge. and um you know just seeing what we can do,

1:06:18 just trying as hard as we can because we're up against very powerful people and we know that

1:06:23 but we're we're going we're going to keep trying, right? Yeah. And we're certainly honored I'm certainly honored personally to be shoulder-to-shoulder with you, to back you, have your back, and to um and support the survivors um of sex abuse. And certainly we're going to continue to train our sites and our our artillery and bring our resources which include this platform, our audience. You know, we all vibrate on the same frequency when it comes to making sure that you have and your fellow survivors and victims have um the dignity and justice that you deserve. And I'm just so so pleased that we have this relationship and moving forward in 2026. In fact, I'm coming out to California in February. I know that we're going to get together and talk about different collaborative ways that we can all work together um using our respective platforms on behalf of survivors. So, Lisa Phillips, such a

1:07:18 pleasure to have you as here on the intersection uh addressing and briefing our audience and thank you for doing it.

1:07:24 Thank you, Michael. It's always a pleasure. Oh, you too. Lisa Phillips, one of the leaders of the survivor movement, um who's in court right now, um trying to convince a federal judge that the Department of Justice has forfeited its right to continue to sit on millions of pages of documents about and to protect the rich and the powerful. And we'll continue to report on that particular uh important matter. We're not going to lose sight of it. We're not going to it's not going to go away as I know the Trump administration would like it to and not not only legal af and intersection and the mightest touch are here. Um let me uh thank the audience.

1:08:02 We've had two major guests here. Uh we had um of course we had Sky Perryman the head of Democracy Forward briefing our audience including right up to the minute and we had the announcement for those that joined a little bit late at the announcement that Lindseay Howigan is out out of the Department of Justice out of the US Attorney position in the Eastern District of Virginia. Pressure worked. Public pressure worked. Crowds and courage worked. Our continued coverage out of it. I had four different videos today up on either Midas or Legal AF drilling down on two new orders that came out today, this morning to strip Lindseay Halligan of her title. one judge Novak threatening her with dis disciplinary sanctions and Pam Bondi and Todd Blanch and anybody else who signed another pleading with her name on it as the US attorney and also walking through how inappropriate and how much ridiculous vitriol that the Department

1:09:03 of Justice was aiming at a federal judge and he wasn't having anything of it. That blistering I said it during a a video I did this morning about it. I needed like asbestous gloves to hold it. It was It was so hot. That and the chief judge advertising the vacancy and all of the public pressure. I'm not taking responsibility. It's like the hummingbird theory, right? All the hummingbirds batting their wings and Lindsay Haligan's out and that's a good thing. Let me wrap up by just touching on global AF for a minute, which is what we call it around around the house, around the YouTube channel when we talk about global things. And we have to talk about global things at the intersection of law and politics because we have we have to meet the moment as Donald Trump goes after our allies as as if they are our enemies and they have to react in kind. So let's just do a quick let's just do a quick around the world in

1:09:57 Donald Trump time. Okay. Davos, Switzerland is where the World Economic Forum is held. It's hosted this year by the leader of BlackRock Private Equity Fund in New York. Of course, they wanted Donald Trump there. Donald Trump decided he wanted to make Davos his coronation platform in order to get a whole bunch of things uh written down and signed. Uh Greenland, I want all all of NATO to cave cave to my will, bend to my will and give me Greenland. And then I want the signatures and the billion dollars for everybody who wants to be on the peace board. Peaceboard seats for sale. everybody peace board seats. You're a dictator. You're at war.

1:10:42 You're currently killing innocents. You can be on the peace board, Mr. Putin, and you can bring people like Lucenko and other dictators along with you. Sure, I'll let some of the allies on. And where does all the money go when you read the fine print related to the Gaza uh peace board? It goes to Donald Trump. Of course, it goes to Donald Trump. And that's why countries like Canada, led by real leaders like Mark Carney, are saying, "Yeah, we're not doing that." And Donald Trump made a there it is. And we and Donald Trump made a major mistake. He he went to Davos late, right? He figured he'd come in when the party was already in progress, do a do a crazy press conference that I covered at the top of the show, and then he'll show up, right, with all his regal, you know, regalness, uh, with Howard Lutnik, the commerce secretary, and Marco Rubio, trade representative, and start Yeah.

1:11:34 Well, f that because that just galvanized all of the European leaders, real leaders who got together. uh McCron the pre the the president of of I don't know if we have a picture of it the president of France he was wearing like Joe Biden dark Biden glasses you know I don't know if it was Sunny in the room I guess Switzerland maybe basically said we're not going back to imperialism we're not going back to colonialism oh he has an oh my producer said no he's got an eye problem I don't know it looked badass to me you're wearing those aviators with mirrored frames I mean mirrored lenses look badass you know I'd go up there like that too if I could.

1:12:12 So, um, I have badass glasses as people know. So, he said, "We're not going back to imperialism. We're not going back to colonialism." Mark said, "We're not we're not doing this." You know, the head of the EU, same thing. Speech after speech after speech uh to deny Donald Trump. He can create all the AI cartoons he wants. He can put the flag up his backside if he wants, but he's not getting Greenland or NATO. Even Republicans believe that's a bad idea and bad policy and bad politics and so they're fighting back as uh uh we're not going to have a live stream of this because there is no live stream but there but there is the EU is getting together European Union in Brussels on Thursday to talk about retaliatory measures and pushing the doomsday button. They have a doomsday button.

1:13:02 Yep. Big. It's like a like on James Bond movies. Giant button mark. Doomsday. It's the anti-coercion instrument, the ACI. It's filled with retaliatory um tariffs to fight back at Donald Trump. And Donald Trump doesn't like it. Doesn't like that he's being opposed in Greenland. So, he threatened Macron and French wines with a 200% tariff, giving yet another example as to why the Supreme Court needs to rip away and take this toy out of this toddler's hands once and for all about tariffs. He doesn't have the tariff power, you know, and so he's just giving exhibit A through Z of why the even the MAGA six on the Supreme Court need to shut him down. Now, we didn't get the tariff order today. We're not going to get it for a while. I've said it's not major decisions don't get made until March, April, May, or June. That's just the way it is. And so, I think it's going to be a bad decision. Some people in the chat

1:14:05 said maybe they're timing it. Yeah, I don't put it past the Supreme Court magazix to time it. Of course, the moderates could do the same thing on when they finish their descents and their concurrences. Nope. Not. Uh-uh. Not quite done yet. You know, whole thing's got to go out at the same time. That's why we haven't gotten the Voting Rights Act decision yet. So, the world Donald Trump is a unifier. Donald Trump is a unifier. He's unifying the world against America. Yeah. We're going to be America first and they're going to be America last and at the rate they're going. It's gotten so bad that when Mark Carney of Canada cuts a great deal with China because he's been left with no choice, Donald Trump says, "Yeah, yeah, that's a good idea. I would cut a deal with China if I were Mark Carney, too."

1:14:48 Yeah, that's a good idea. I mean, reshaping the world order against America's interest doesn't seem to be in America's interests. And when you combine that with the failed Trumpanomics and and I'll tell you where it's all coming to a head, this sort of split screen between America suffering and the hermetically sealed world of the government, including the legislative branch, including the Supreme Court who lives in the most in the most ivy tower of ivy towers are medically sealed is going to come out tomorrow and you'll need to watch it with us over on legal a YouTube which is going to starting at 9:30. It's the oral argument about whether Donald Trump gets to take over the Federal Reserve. A Federal Reserve that this Supreme Court, even the MAGA 6 said, "Nah, you've gone too far. That's like our historic first and second banks of America. They're independent. No, you can't fire everybody there." Finally

1:15:49 telling the toddler, "No, you can't eat that now. You need to go to bed." So, we're going to see what's going to happen during the oral argument. Are they going We're going to know right away, right away based on their prior rulings whether they're going to let Donald Trump get his greedy, grubby, sticky little hands on the monetary policy along with fiscal policy. Fiscal policy being what what the president and the administration handles, monetary policy being what's in the hands of the independent Federal Reserve. And guess who's showing up tomorrow besides me? You know, Jay Powell. Oh, yes. Donald Trump said he was going to go to the tariff hearing oral argument and didn't show up. Kind of like when he said he was going to go down to the capital during Jan 6 and found a way to hightail it back to the White House dining room. But you know who is showing up tomorrow? Jay Powell.

1:16:44 Sure. They left him out at Davos where all the other central bankers hang out. We got Donald Trump instead going to the World Economic Conference. So, he had some time on his hands. You know, the reconstruction of the Federal Reserve well underway. Doesn't have to worry about Donald Trump up his ass. So, he's taking a little bit of a breather and strolling over the United States Supreme Court to to show to the Supreme Court. They're going to have to acknowledge that effing Fed Reserve Chair J. pal is in the room because the independence of the Federal Reserve is so important not to his pension, not to him personally, but to the American people, to our economy, to our way of life.

1:17:31 Without an independent Federal Reserve, the United States would no longer be considered the gold standard for financial services, for the for e for the economy in the world. That's just it would not be. And so he wants to send the message by his appearance. Sort of like you know like when um people know I like the Godfather like in the Godfather too when they brought you know Frankie Pantangelie's brother over from the old country to have him sit in the Senate room while his brother was about to testify against Michael Corleone just to have him in the room. So think of Jay Powell like Frank Pantangelie's brother.

1:18:10 How's that? That was very Sorry about that, folks. I just got carried away with my my metaphors. Anyway, that's where we are. I'm glad you're here. For those that just wandered in late thinking this was some sort of um movie clip show, this is the intersection with Michael Popach. I'm so pleased that you're here. We had an amazing crowd with us. We had about six or seven thousand at the height. two great guests in uh Sky Perry and Democracy Forward and Lisa Phillips, a leader of the Survivor Movement, all coming together to connect the dots for you the only way we know how without blowing smoke or sunshine. Take a moment, go over wherever you get your audio podcast from. Go plug in the intersection, leave a fivestar review. We've only been up about two weeks. We you know you you'll you'll see your review. I mean, it's we're that new up on audio. Leave a fivestar review. leave a comment. I read

1:19:01 all the comments uh you know and and it helps me it helps me there. And then of course the other way to support everything that we do is to come over to Legal AF the YouTube channel where I'm the where I'm the head curator. Uh we just crossed a million subscribers. Think about becoming a paid member if you want to like people say how do we invest in Legal AF? Keep independent journalism independent. That's a way that is a way. There's there's me. I was I think it was 10 pounds heavier with with uh I needed a haircut. Let's go over to Legal AF Substack. Another way to support everything that we do. This is where I live. You know, I do 40 videos a week. I do the podcast. I'm running the legal AF Substack. I'm running the YouTube channel. And if you uh are if you enjoy it, if you want to support it, if you want to give a thumbs up to it, these are the different ways to support what we do. But I appreciate

1:19:52 each and every one of you for coming out to the intersection on Tuesday nights here on the Midas Touch Network. And so until my next contribution to all things law and politics, shout out to the mightest mighty and the legal afers. 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 called, 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.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "LIVE: Popok Gives URGENT UPDATE on Breaking Legal news | 1/20/2026"?

Michael Popach (Host), Sky Perryman (Guest), Lisa Phillips (Guest).

What is "LIVE: Popok Gives URGENT UPDATE on Breaking Legal news | 1/20/2026" about?

Michael Popac delivers an urgent update on significant legal developments, featuring guests Sky Perryman, founder of Democracy Forward, who discusses the achievements of her organization in defending the rule of law against Donald Trump, as well as the implications of recent unauthorized access to private social security information. Additionally, Lisa Phillips, a leader in the sex abuse…

What is mentioned in this MeidasTouch episode?

7 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Michael Popach, Sky Perryman, Democracy Forward, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), World Economic Forum, New York, New York. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "LIVE: Popok Gives URGENT UPDATE on Breaking Legal news | 1/20/2026"?

The episode runs 1 h 21 min; the transcript is about 14,584 words in 128 timestamped sections.

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