LIVE: Popok Gives URGENT UPDATE on Breaking Legal news | 12/16/2025

What this episode is about

Michael Popok provides an urgent update on current legal news, focusing on Donald Trump's controversial behavior and public response to recent tragedies, including a shooting in Australia and a shooting in Rhode Island. He critiques Trump's inability to communicate empathetically during these events and questions the demographic of supporters who accept his divisive rhetoric and actions.

Key takeaways

• Trump: Renaming 'Criminally Insane' homes since forever; can't console but instigates foreign conflicts efficiently.
• Bondi hero facts twist: Muslim stopper, not Christian; truth, they say, is the first casualty of politics.
• Venezuela's oil blockade: Trump's aggressive strategy or another Gulf of Tonkin? Discuss.
• Crowds vs. Courts: American backlash halts Trump deals—democracy thrives in protests, not silence.
• Susie Wilds: Trump's whisperer, powerfully silent; many calculated interviews, not just one, Vanity's insight shines.

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 10:00: The Intersection, District courts, Trump Home for the Criminally Insane
2. 10:00 – 20:00: Legal AF, Attorney General of the United States, Early voting, Narcissistic megalomaniac
3. 20:00 – 30:00: Legal AF, The Intersection, Brett Leon, Sundays
4. 30:00 – 40:00: Aura Frames, Legal AF, Brett Leon, Sundays
5. 40:00 – 50:00: Attorney General of the United States, Blue slips, Proud Boys, American Oversight
6. 50:00 – 1:00:00: Legal AF, Freedom of the press, Actual malice, Alejandro Prito
7. 1:00:00 – 1:05:42: Legal AF, The Intersection, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Armed Services Committee

Notable quotes from "LIVE: Popok Gives URGENT UPDATE on Breaking Legal news | 12/16/2025"

• The screen that just told me, Stop mumbling and looking at your notes and get on the intersection. You are on the intersection with Michael Popox.

  about The Intersection · at 0:06

• Getting lost in a lot of reporting about this. I know some people were I put up a video about this today on legal AF. And somebody wrote, I love the Midas Touch Network, but…

  about Legal AF · at 10:01

• Donald Trump himself didn't want to see cut. See, we were right. For a time, Elon Musk was the president of the United States.

  about Attorney General of the United States · at 12:25

• What did Judge Leon do today? Did he agree to the ballroom? Did he not agree? It has to do with the temporary restraining order and the difference between a TTRO and a preliminary.

  about Brett Leon · at 21:23

• We just brought on the American Civil Liberties Union to be a regular contributor. Democracy Forward and all their 50 60 cases with Sky Perman is a has a regular playlist.…

  about Democracy Forward · at 26:02

• Do lives, live reporting, written work, the videos, different things. come over to Legal AF Substack, help us get to We're trying to get to 200,000 in the next couple of…

  about Legal AF Substack · at 28:02

• Have easy to store and serve. but never both. But you don't have to choose anymore, thanks to Sundays. Sundays was founded by a veterinarian and mom, Dr.

  about Sundays · at 29:03

• That's why Aura Frames has completely changed how I think about holiday gifting. And Aura Frame makes it easy to give something that feels thoughtful without the stress. Instead of guessing.

  about Aura Frames · at 30:31

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Susie Wiles — Person · 18 mentions
• Russell Vought — Person · 5 mentions
• Brett Leon — Person · 4 mentions · first at 21:23
• Carolyn Leavitt — Person · 3 mentions
• Alina Habba — Person · 2 mentions
• Michael Popok — Person · 2 mentions
• Judge Karatelli — Person · 1 mention · first at 24:24
  Approach to what I think just happened and what will happen. And then a judge, Judge Karatelli, made a ruling that is going to help out James Comey, the FBI director, in any…
• Cindy Blumenthal — Person · 1 mention · first at 26:16
  Has a regular playlist. we've got Court Accountability Action. We've got Cindy Blumenthal and Sean Wentz who are our resident historians. It's just we it's just an amazing…
• Sean Wentz — Person · 1 mention · first at 26:16
  Has a regular playlist. we've got Court Accountability Action. We've got Cindy Blumenthal and Sean Wentz who are our resident historians. It's just we it's just an amazing…
• Dr. Tori Waxman — Person · 1 mention · first at 29:11
  Both. But you don't have to choose anymore, thanks to Sundays. Sundays was founded by a veterinarian and mom, Dr.
• Judge Richard Leon — Person · 1 mention · first at 32:12
  And Judge Leon got assigned, Richard Leon got assigned a Bush appointee to the case in DC and he decided to hold a emergency temporary restraining order today. And I'll just I'm just going to.
• Clifford Death Row Jefferson — Person · 1 mention · first at 37:27
  They gave this whole list, this fraudulent list of what other presidents have done. Jefferson built the I'm first of all, all right, we stop. That was before all the laws that…
• Willy Wonka — Person · 1 mention · first at 42:06
  You need two, it's like Willy Wonka, but you need two golden tickets to get whatever position you want. Donald Trump hates that. Why do we have to?
• Tatiana Foley — Person · 1 mention · first at 43:47
  Defamation is in it can be done orally. Look, I've got some new questions from my assistant. Tatiana Foley asks, can the c can the Senate remove a cabinet official like Pete…
• Pete Hegsth — Person · 1 mention · first at 43:54
  Questions from my assistant. Tatiana Foley asks, can the c can the Senate remove a cabinet official like Pete Hegsth? He could be impeached. He could be impeached like a…
• Domingo 2390 — Person · 1 mention · first at 44:46
  So to answer your question, that's how you remove a cabinet official. Domingo 2390, Proud Boys are trying to sue the US for millions. Yep. But since they accepted the pardon and therefore admitted guilt, can they really sue?
• Ashley Babbot — Person · 1 mention · first at 45:31
  Information Act requests because they want to know what's going on with the Ashley Babbot settlement with her family. what's going on with this phony settlement, or lawsuit in…
• Martin Luther King — Person · 1 mention · first at 50:29
  Because that's what happened as they didn't march on the capital like John Donald Trump likes to say like Martin Luther King. They attacked the capital and assaulted the…
• Young Carol (Yan Carol) — Person · 1 mention · first at 53:07
  How do you defame that person? I've said that from the beginning. I said Eugene Carol should argue there's no way to defame him. He's incapable. There's just some people on planet Earth that can't be defamed. You can't defame Hitler. You.
• Charlie Manson — Person · 1 mention · first at 53:16
  Some people on planet Earth that can't be defamed. You can't defame Hitler. You can't defame Charlie Manson.
• Alejandro Prito — Person · 1 mention · first at 54:02
  And he thinks this helps him. So he gets the same lawyer in this little firm in Coral Gables, Florida, Alejandro Prito, who files all these cases right down the street from his…
• Gail Earl — Person · 1 mention · first at 54:09
  Prito, who files all these cases right down the street from his office in Miami, hoping he doesn't get Judge Gail again because he's gotten Judge Gail twice for the Michael…
• Judge Merryweather — Person · 1 mention · first at 55:06
  Cycle, the New York Times in middle district of Florida up in Sarasota in front of Judge Merryweather filed their motion to dismiss the U liel case against the New York Times…
• Henry Rosenbush — Person · 1 mention · first at 57:59
  Question answering thing because I don't I like doing it. Henry Rosenbush wrote, Do you think any fellow journalists will stand up for their female colleagues when Trump says…
• Carolyn Levik — Person · 1 mention · first at 59:41
  And my other thing is how about the entire press corps except for MAGA when Carolyn Levik enters the room is they're either not in the room, they have a sick day or more, or they turn their back on her. Trust me, they can do their reporting.
• Jim Acasta — Person · 1 mention · first at 1:00:31
  Millions, hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to get their press credentials back. Jim Acasta, this one, that one. the Pentagon has effectively banned everybody who's a…
• Cẩm Thành Chung — Person · 1 mention · first at 1:01:06
  Departments. They're all like mid20s coming out of the, the factory trained by Steven Chung and Caroline Levit and they all, well, it's good to look around and finally see an…
• Gilbert Goodman — Person · 1 mention · first at 1:01:50
  Have to do. I'd like to see the regular press corps try some version of that. Gilbert Goodman asked, Why haven't they called Hexith in for a public hearing?
• Hexith — Person · 1 mention · first at 1:01:52
  Press corps try some version of that. Gilbert Goodman asked, Why haven't they called Hexith in for a public hearing?
• Michael Popock — Person · 1 mention · first at 1:04:56
  Hands and I really appreciate all that you do and I'm glad you're here on the intersection. I'm Michael Popock.
• Rob Bonta — Person · 1 mention
• Sheldon Whitehouse — Person · 1 mention
• Sky Perryman — Person · 1 mention

Books & papers

• Epstein birthday book — Book · 1 mention · first at 52:16
  Street Journal in their defense of the liel case brought against them because they published the Epstein birthday book with page 233 of the obscene birthday card drawn by or on…
• Clue — Book · 1 mention

Companies & orgs

• Legal AF — Company · 18 mentions · first at 10:06
• The Intersection — Company · 9 mentions · first at 0:10
• Legal AF Substack — Company · 4 mentions · first at 28:07
• Democracy Forward — Company · 3 mentions · first at 26:06
• National Trust — Company · 2 mentions · first at 21:45
  A teachable moment. And what happened in the hearing today is and the result is what I feared is that the National Trust dragged its feet and waited too long.
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) — Company · 2 mentions · first at 26:02
  We just brought on the American Civil Liberties Union to be a regular contributor. Democracy Forward and all their 50 60 cases with Sky Perman is a has a regular playlist. we've got.
• BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) — Company · 2 mentions
• District courts — Company · 1 mention · first at 4:21
  Got a we've got a president who for now the Supreme Court isn't reigning in. District courts are trying to appellet courts are trying to but the American people still have a…
• Court Accountability Action — Company · 1 mention · first at 26:14
  Their 50 60 cases with Sky Perman is a has a regular playlist. we've got Court Accountability Action. We've got Cindy Blumenthal and Sean Wentz who are our resident historians.…
• National Historic Trust — Company · 1 mention · first at 33:49
  I read the spokesperson, the head of the pre the National Historic Trust, and she was This was not our first option. we tried many other different Yeah, no Problem is, you should have moved.
• American Oversight — Company · 1 mention · first at 45:20
  Phony lawsuit as cover to settle. And that's what groups like Democracy Forward and American Oversight and other public interest groups that we have on legal layoff regularly.…
• Wright Tmaine — Company · 1 mention · first at 57:03
  Same course. Could be the similar law firms. There's a couple of law firms like I think it's Wright Tmaine or Tmaine Wright. There's a couple of first amendment law firms out of New York that do an amazing job in this area.
• Tmaine Wright — Company · 1 mention · first at 57:07
  Firms. There's a couple of law firms like I think it's Wright Tmaine or Tmaine Wright. There's a couple of first amendment law firms out of New York that do an amazing job in this area.
• Gunster Oakley — Company · 1 mention · first at 57:22
  Like one local law firm here. just a little inside baseball that I know well, Gunster Oakley that has good offices up and down the east coast of Florida and I think on the Tampa also.
• Morning AF — Company · 1 mention · first at 1:05:19
  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 are there as…
• Appellate courts — Company · 1 mention
• Cosmo — Company · 1 mention
• Elle — Company · 1 mention

Products & tech

• Carver matte frames — Product · 1 mention · first at 31:19
  For a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting aura frames.com to get 35 bucks off Aura's best-selling Carver matte frames, named number one by Wire Cutter by using…

Concepts & topics

• Libel — Concept · 6 mentions
• Attorney General of the United States — Concept · 3 mentions · first at 12:30
• United States Senate — Concept · 3 mentions
• Political retribution — Concept · 2 mentions · first at 39:47
  Intention. He doesn't want to get any of them confirmed. He just wants them to do his political retribution while he's while he's in office.
• Blue slips — Concept · 2 mentions · first at 41:31
  Moving to try to convince John Thoon, the Senate majority leader, to get rid of the blue slips. this is a tradition dating back 200 years that you can't get a candidate through…
• Proud Boys — Concept · 2 mentions · first at 44:46
  So to answer your question, that's how you remove a cabinet official. Domingo 2390, Proud Boys are trying to sue the US for millions. Yep. But since they accepted the pardon and therefore admitted guilt, can they really sue?
• Freedom of the press — Concept · 2 mentions · first at 54:49
  Argument. The second one will be motion to dismiss first amendment right, freedom of the press, no actual malice, can't defame him, like that.
• Microdosing — Concept · 2 mentions
• Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) — Concept · 2 mentions
• White House press corps — Concept · 2 mentions
• Trump Home for the Criminally Insane — Concept · 1 mention · first at 0:20
  Production team before we got on. I'm going to I'm going to be reporting soon from the Trump Home for the Criminally Insane. He likes to name everything after himself. How…
• Special K — Concept · 1 mention · first at 11:40
  Now he's been on spe the him being on special K. It was part of a New York Times article and he barely denied it or didn't deny it at all. So, I wasn't that shocked. But the fact that Susie Wilds used the word ketamine and micro dose in.
• Narcissistic megalomaniac — Concept · 1 mention · first at 14:51
  What you're diagnosing, Caroline, without recognizing it is that he is a narcissistic megalomaniac.
• Early voting — Concept · 1 mention · first at 18:59
  All sorts of rules and regulations about registration and mailin and absentee and early voting and the hours for early voting and getting rid of all the mail the dropboxes and…
• Dropbox voting — Concept · 1 mention · first at 20:07
  The attorney general for the state of Washington. They only have mail-in dropbox voting. That's it over a week-l long period. I was what? Right.
• Preliminary injunction — Concept · 1 mention · first at 21:33
  Agree? It has to do with the temporary restraining order and the difference between a TTRO and a preliminary injunction. And we've talked a lot about it on legal layoff, but…
• Trump Center for the Performing Arts — Concept · 1 mention · first at 23:02
  All the programs and things that he changed the name of, the future sit down for this one. Trump Center for the Performing Arts, we have to change it back to Kennedy. the…
• Trump International — Concept · 1 mention · first at 23:12
  To change it back to Kennedy. the Reagan International Airport, now Trump International, one day, gonna have to change it back. The Trump Peace Institute. God, almost threw up…
• Trump Peace Institute — Concept · 1 mention · first at 23:14
  The Reagan International Airport, now Trump International, one day, gonna have to change it back. The Trump Peace Institute. God, almost threw up on that one. Change it back. The Department of War. We don't have to worry about that.
• Environmental impact reports — Concept · 1 mention · first at 32:57
  Administration Department of Justice filings today before the hearing were environmental impact reports prepared by, federal offices way back when that said this is going to be…
• Foreign affairs power — Concept · 1 mention · first at 37:13
  This thing. and then in their papers besides saying, Well, he's got the foreign affairs power, everybody. That's pretty powerful. They then went on to say, he just did what other presidents have done. And they gave this whole list, this.
• War crime — Concept · 1 mention · first at 44:33
  He's refusing to show the video because it's a the video would be good for him or it would be war crime for him? Put it in the put it in the chat. And yes, so to answer your…
• Defense of Marriage Act — Concept · 1 mention · first at 47:24
  Somebody whose foundation is had has been doing some amazing work, including cases that we count on like the Defense of Marriage Act. you ghoulishly celebrate his death and…
• Ellipse speech — Concept · 1 mention · first at 49:34
  They spliced together some clips from Jan 6 and the Ellipse speech. Okay. In which over the course of a rambling, You think he rambles now? Well, he rambled then, too. The course of this 53 minute speech, he said at one point, And I'm.
• War of 1812 — Concept · 1 mention · first at 50:34
  Donald Trump likes to say like Martin Luther King. They attacked the capital and assaulted the capital like the War of 1812 and try to burn it to the ground and kill everybody inside.
• Actual malice — Concept · 1 mention · first at 54:49
  Argument. The second one will be motion to dismiss first amendment right, freedom of the press, no actual malice, can't defame him, like that.
• Epstein birthday card — Concept · 1 mention · first at 56:37
  Have it. It's up on Legal AF Substack with a link. You can read all 233 pages of the of this Epstein birthday card.
• Press credentials — Concept · 1 mention · first at 1:00:31
  Millions, hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to get their press credentials back. Jim Acasta, this one, that one. the Pentagon has effectively banned everybody who's a…
• Armed Services Committee — Concept · 1 mention · first at 1:02:00
  These closed door briefings now, but the he's not going to be able to avoid it. He's not the Armed Services Committee is going to be calling him in and Democrats are going to…
• Absentee voting — Concept · 1 mention
• Federal Tort Claims Act — Concept · 1 mention
• United States House of Representatives — Concept · 1 mention

Places & events

• Reagan International Airport — Place · 1 mention · first at 23:10
  Center for the Performing Arts, we have to change it back to Kennedy. the Reagan International Airport, now Trump International, one day, gonna have to change it back. The…
• Capitol — Place · 1 mention · first at 49:49
  Then, too. The course of this 53 minute speech, he said at one point, And I'm going to go down to the Capitol with you. So, he So, remember what we learned from the Gen 6 committee. This was an angry armed mob, okay? that he was whipping up.
• Coral Gables, Florida — Place · 1 mention · first at 54:02
  And he thinks this helps him. So he gets the same lawyer in this little firm in Coral Gables, Florida, Alejandro Prito, who files all these cases right down the street from his…
• England and Wales — Place · 1 mention · first at 54:36
  The wrong country. I think that case needs to be brought in England and in the UK under the laws of England and Wales as they like to say for defamation or liable under the…
• Middle District of Florida — Place · 1 mention · first at 55:00
  On the same day that he filed that again to distract step on the microcycle news cycle, the New York Times in middle district of Florida up in Sarasota in front of Judge…
• Sarasota — Place · 1 mention · first at 55:03
  To distract step on the microcycle news cycle, the New York Times in middle district of Florida up in Sarasota in front of Judge Merryweather filed their motion to dismiss the…
• East Coast of Florida — Place · 1 mention · first at 57:24
  Little inside baseball that I know well, Gunster Oakley that has good offices up and down the east coast of Florida and I think on the Tampa also.
• Communist China — Place · 1 mention · first at 1:01:23
  That's always bashing the Department of War. I'm are I'm sorry. Is this, communist China? Is this North Korea? Where are we? And yet now I do credit the New York Times and Washington Post because they said they threw their.
• Southern District of New York — Place · 1 mention

Sponsors

• Sundays — Sponsor · 4 mentions · first at 29:08
• Aura Frames — Sponsor · 3 mentions · first at 30:31

Full transcript with timestamps

0:02 We are live. You know how I know that? Because there's a big red button up on the screen that just told me, "Stop mumbling and looking at your notes and get on the intersection." You are on the intersection with Michael Popox. Speaking of mumbling, I joked with my production team before we got on. I'm going to I'm going to be reporting soon from the uh from the Trump Home for the Criminally Insane. He likes to name everything after himself. How about that? because I'm trying to figure out what is the demographic, what is the audience he is pandering to with how he's acted in the last well I don't know 10 months plus another 40 years but in particular you've got his inability to be the consoler chief about gun violence with 16 17 people dying on Bondai Beach in Australia and him not figuring out how to console people and acknowledge that a Muslim local Australian resident was the one that stopped the shooting

1:03 and not what MAGA Laura Loomer said which was he was Christian. He was Christian. Yeah, he wasn't. He was a Muslim citizen American. I mean a human that stopped war carnage along with a Jewish family, a Russian Jewish family that were the first two to be killed because they tried to do the exact same thing. But Trump yet can't figure out how to come up with the right words. Same thing with Brown University and their tra their tragedy in Rhode Island to the nine that got shot sorry to the two that they're dead uh from our deepest simp I mean the guy can't even put a coherent sentence together when it comes to trying to be that thing which is the consoler and chief. So I'm trying to figure out what is his audience when he when he celebrates the death of a American citizen and icon in Rob Reiner and his wife. What what if somebody wants to write it and I'll answer to it.

1:58 What is the demo that he is going for? I just don't get the group within his electorate that thinks it's okay to celebrate the death of somebody on the political spectrum that may not be your own and to do a lousy job, frankly, of um putting his arm around America, not that I want his arm around me, but his arm around the American people to comfort them in the time of loss. What is the electorate? What is he going for? I don't understand the MAGA base if this is the base and I don't want to be part of it. You know, this is these are human tragedies.

2:39 And uh as we came on the air, Donald Trump's decided again to conjure up a war with Venezuela because it's politically convenient. We're going to do a a blockade of Venezuelan oil tankers. Um, I disagree with everything about the Venezuelan regime and I believe just as many unfortunate dictators within Central and South America that Maduro has had a hand in the drug trade, not so much fentinel, but in the drug trade and in other acts of related violence that spills over into America. But the Honduras Honduran president that was led out the front door of a prison was worse and we didn't declare war on Honduras.

3:27 You know, if he all Donald Trump wants is regime change in Venezuela and he's going to use this false narrative that we're at war or they're at war with us and enemy combatants and all this other vocabulary in order to expand his rogue lawless powers. And so far the Supreme Court has let him get away with it. But the American people aren't. And the American people and people that are here and thank you for being here on the intersection. Because of you, we hit our highest uh ranking last week on YouTubes. Um we hit number 26 or so on YouTube's top 100 podcast. That's that's a a little to do with me and a lot to do with the commitment of our audience. But we've got a um we've got a president who for for now the Supreme Court isn't reigning in. District courts are trying to appellet courts are trying to but the American people still have a major major ability to through crowds through um public reproach, public um criticism

4:40 to stop Donald Trump in his tracks. I mean, his his family just walked away from a um land deal, a hotel deal led by Jared Kushner because of so much backlash. And we're very good at backlash. You know, the American people, 10 million people in the streets for the various marches says we are. And we've got to believe that collectively our voice matters because it does. And the more that we do what we do on legal a and might as touch and here on the intersection which is speak truth to each other but then take that into action in the streets the more and train our sights on it the more we can re in this rogue and lawless presidency. Um and then I wake up this morning big fan of Vanity Fair magazine.

5:36 Been reading it since I was I don't know in college. Uh, Vanity Fair, for those that don't know, has tremendous journalism despite some fashion pages. When I was in college, I was a little embarrassed sometimes by the cover on Vanity Fair because sometimes it would look like Cosmo or uh, you know, like L magazine, and I'd be like, so I'd rip the cover off and just carry the magazine around without the cover because the the writing was so amazing. And for whatever reason, pardon me folks, for whatever reason, Susie Wilds, the chief of staff for Donald Trump, who prior chiefs of staff about this time in their careers already got fired, uh, decided to give not one interview.

6:26 People are reporting it like it was an interview and they caught her. Forget all that. Susie Wilds does not wipe her backside without Donald Trump's permission. Susie Wilds is politically calculating. She is sober. She grew up in the rough and tumble world of Florida politics. She is conservative. And I don't mean that as a as a political ideology. I mean as a person. She is quiet, powerful, but quiet. And and people are like, "Whoa, look at her freewheeling it." This was several interviews. Some of them started back in March of this year. This what's been published is a culmination of many interviews and micro interviews with Susie Wilds. And if anybody out there, you can put it in comments. If anybody out there believes that Susie Wild's attack on Pam Bondi, and we'll go into it in detail, JD Vance, Russell Vote, the head of the uh uh the Congressional Budget Office and the architect of Project 2025,

7:34 uh Musk and even Donald Trump with admissions that will only be helpful uh to defense lawyers everywhere in cases against Donald Trump and his DOJ. If anything, she did that without his permission or knowledge. You are not tethered to reality. Susie Wilds doesn't cross the street without Donald Trump's approval. So, this is the hatchet job that Trump wanted Susie Wilds to make. That's why people are like ringing their hands. Why would she talk to Vanity Fair? And why so many times and why? It's not like they put like the Wonder Woman truth lasso around her.

8:13 They she spoke freely because that was her. She was told to speak freely. Look, she she didn't just let you know the boss didn't wake up one day and see on the news stand. He knew that she was going to be giving this interview. Pam Bondi, your days are numbered. Your days are numbered. Just as I said a couple of weeks ago that that Miranda Divine, who's a podcaster/journalist of some sort at the New York Post and Donald that which is Donald Trump's favorite outlet of choice for gossip when she broke the story that, you know, a dozen or more FBI, pardon me, FBI agents had um criticized Cash Patel in a scathing report and it was broken on Miranda Divine's headline, you under her by line. I was like, "Oh, this is has this is Donald Trump. This is Donald Trump trying to get rid of Cash Patel to try to destabilize him." And he just used Susie WS to destabilize Pam Bondi, who who he watched her during the the um

9:17 oversight committee hearings in the House and the Senate. She did terrible. She I mean, they weren't high-fiving in the White House over her performance. And now Susie Wilds spent a fair amount of time talking about the Epstein files. And about Bondi, she said that was a swing and a miss. That's her words. That was a swing and a miss. She said they were on her they said uh she uh she had them. She was going to release them. They were on her desk. And then and then Susie Wild says, "I saw I read the Epstein files. Hundreds of thousands of pages." Now, we know one person in the administration that admits to having read the Epstein files, and that's Susie Wilds. And she admitted, it's like the first time we ever ever heard. It's it's getting lost in a lot of reporting about this. I know some people were I put up a video about this today on legal AF. And somebody wrote, I love the Midas Touch

10:10 Network, but this is like the eighth video on this particular issue. And I wrote, I don't know, it's my first one. I don't know. I can just That's all I can do. But there it there's so much in there that some of it's getting lost. She's like the first one to ever admit that Donald Trump's name is in the Epstein files. She said, "Oh, there's nothing really bad about what what he's what he's in. Well, let us be the judge of that. How about that, Susie? How about you release all the files in the next couple days and um you know, we'll meet you for a beer and we'll go over them together and we'll we'll determine if we ever get to see since they're going to have to either unredact his name because that's what the FBI was doing back in March and April or they're going to finally let us see it.

10:51 And then she said that uh you know the files might have been somewhere, but they certainly weren't on on Bondi's desk and sort of rolled her eyes about Pam Bondi. Pam Bondi, your days are numbered. Laura Loomer, the right-wing looney uh activist and social media influencer. She's had it out for Pam Bondi for a long time. Coupled now with Susie Wilds on behalf of Donald Trump. Todd Blanch is going to be your and my attorney general probably in the beginning of the new year. Put it in the time capsule. Pop said it on the intersection. That's what I believe. Or somebody else that they're going to bring in. She also said uh about probably my favorite the one that made me spit my coffee was her comments about Elon Musk on ketamine.

11:37 Now he's been on spe the him being on special K. It was part of a New York Times article and he barely denied it or didn't deny it at all. So, I wasn't that shocked. But the fact that Susie Wilds used the word ketamine and micro dose in the same sentence when they said, "What about when uh Elon Musk said that it was public workers that were responsible for the deaths of six million Jews in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust?" And she just looked at the reporter and said, "He must have been micro doing at that point."

12:09 But the fact, you know, that he's a weird odd duck. Another comment by Susie Wilds. Um, and that apparently he had he uh broke free of his chain at some point. It was cutting budgets and cutting departments and programs that Donald Trump himself didn't want to see cut. See, we were right. For a time, Elon Musk was the president of the United States. as to Russ Vote who is I mean he he's he is effectively the president of the United States when it comes to domestic policy and maybe even foreign policy. He's controlling the budget. He's cutting all that funding.

12:51 He's cutting all those departments. He's he's just, you know, cutting the fuel line between the federal government and the states. That's Russ vote who nobody, no pun intended, voted for and he was the architect of 2025 and self admitted. She said he is a partisan zealot, right? He is MAGA beyond MAGA. It sounds like she was a little scared of him. And that's what happens when you have somebody that's not accountable to the people uh making major policy decisions that affect our lives. JD Vance. She just called it the way she saw it, the way we all see it. He's an opportunist. She said that JD Vance got on the MAGA bandwagon in order to win his Senate campaign and for no other reason. It was very politically calculating. Seriously, if you look up political calculation in the dictionary, isn't it a picture of JD Vance?

13:48 Don't we all agree with that? So, that that's uh that's about half of what this is part one. My other favorite comment that I spit my coffee on is when she said that Donald Trump's effectively like an alcoholic. I was like I leaned in on that one. I said, "Go on." Because he famously doesn't drink. But her comment was he's like an alcoholic because if if you give him a little alcohol, you know, he's all kind of loses it. For him, the alcohol is public attention. Obviously, it's the rallies. You know, they brag about it because they think it's a good thing. Like Carolyn Levit in the press corp, press secretary.

14:30 Donald Trump's the most accessible president we've ever had. Nobody in the press could ever complain because he's we Yeah. He's driving everybody crazy in the White House because he's so accessible and he's so accessible because he needs public agilation all the time. He needs constant attention. What you're diagnosing, Caroline, without recognizing it is that he is a narcissistic megalomaniac. That doesn't fit on a bumper sticker. Uh, and that's what you're recognizing and he's manic. So, um, you have that going on. But again, let me just the Susie Wild segment here. She did not do it. She did not speak out of turn. She's not in trouble. She's not going to get fired.

15:15 They're not going to throw her under the bus. She did Donald Trump's bidding and keep everybody on their toes and keep everybody unsta and destabilized and that's his goal and she accomplished it. We'll wait and I'm waiting patiently for part two. And uh we'll try not to do 10 videos on it on Midas and on legal AF. I promise you. Um ballroom time for our ballroom segment. We should have music. You know, I remember when Letterman used to have music. Uh, and I'm also looking at I want to try to answer your questions tonight, which is sort of fun. Got about 5,000 people that joined us. Thank you for doing that. Let me just check my list of questions. See if there's anything fun so far. All right, let's see. Cali Girl 58, do you think Trump's address tomorrow night is a declaration of war? It's going to come close. I mean, he can't declare war.

16:09 Only Congress can. He he is pushing us into a war with Venezuela because it gives him so many superpowers uh mil militaristically, domestically, foreign policy wise. I'm surprised he didn't used our our military blockade of Venezuela as an excuse to build the ballroom or demolish the east wing. I mean, we're I mean, seriously, it's certainly getting like that. Uh, DPD5844. That that rolls off the tongue. That asks, "Can we file a class action lawsuit against the government for violating our constitutional rights because government is supposed to help its citizens, not harm them?" I completely agree with everything you you just wrote. But we're never going to get a class action over that. You know, we're never going to get a judge to to award us what whatever our award is, which would be the eviction of the Trump administration uh from the White House. And what would be the remedy so to speak? We always

17:06 have to look at at remedy. Um, somebody asked uh maybe the same person about the Vanity Fair article we just talked about or no, Celazison did. What is the goal of that article? A distraction. Well, everything has to be interpreted by Donald in do in Donald Trump world as an a distraction, a way to step on a news cycle or a micro news cycle or to make a new news cycle. Now, I don't think they knew when that article was going to be coming out per se. Um, but he certainly gave permission to Susie Wilds to give it and sure because now we sit around playing the parlor game like clue like who stabbed Mr.

17:43 advance in the library, you know, with the butter knife instead of continuing to focus the way we always do religiously on legal AF and on minus touch on the depravity, immorality, unconstitutionality, unconstitutional aspects of the Trump administration, which is what we should be talking about every minute of every day until we are able to vote. I just had Eric Holder, the former attorney general under Barack Obama a couple days ago up on Legal AF. the interview you can find it there and he said he agreed with me I had made a comment about there's so much don't you think there's so much pent up demand to vote that we are chomping at the bit chomping at the bit champing champing at the bit got the phrase right uh to vote you know polling is great who doesn't like a good march uh but we want to vote you see it on the election night a month ago you see it on the election night two weeks ago you see

18:41 how desperate we are to get in and exercise our fundamental right to vote. That's the thing. They've tried to suppress it. They've tried to undermine it. They've tried to limit it through all sorts of rules and regulations about registration and mailin and absentee and early voting and the hours for early voting and getting rid of all the mail the dropboxes and all this other all these hurdles. Only a party that that doesn't want to leave and doesn't want everybody to vote tries to suppress and limit the vote. Remember that people think Republicans got nothing to hide.

19:18 They're willing to meet Democrats any any day, any place. Uh no, they're not. They're only willing to do that if they uh redraw the lines on the game board, the congressional districts. uh try to steal 10, 12 or 15 seats before the election to get an advantage. Uh limit the ability for black and brown people uh and think and fair-minded people to vote. You know, if they weren't scared by the outpouring of voting, they would make voting a month-long in every way possible. You're at the ATM, you vote. You're at the supermarket checkout, you vote.

20:01 Dropbox, you vote. I just interviewed the attorney general for the state of Washington. They only have mail-in dropbox voting. That's it over a week-l long period. I was like, what? Right. And other and other countries that are models for democracy, they figured out a way from a technology standpoint to have fair elections, but extend them over a period of time to capture the vote because they want maximum voter participation. They don't want 42% of registered voters voted. Boo. They want 92% of the people in this country voted. Yay. Then we can say the results are what the people wanted.

20:43 You know, we had you can fill in the blank on this number in in the chat tonight. We had anywhere between seven and 20 million people not vote in the last election, general election, for a president. just sat on the sidelines with democracy. Now, I'm not blaming them. I mean, obviously what the the parties were putting out was not attractive, at least not for the Democrats, and I think we're working hard and the Democrats are working hard to change that. But that's where we are with um the pent-up demand for voting.

21:16 The um when I come back, I want to talk about the ballroom hearing today. There's something misreporting about it. What did Judge Leon Leon do today? Did he agree to the ballroom? Did he not agree? It has to do with the temporary restraining order and the difference between a TTRO and a preliminary injunction. And we've talked a lot about it on legal layoff, but this going to be a teachable moment. And what happened in the hearing today is and the result is what I feared is that the National Trust dragged its feet and waited too long.

21:49 that I should have been reporting on this on the October edition of the intersection, not the December edition of the intersection. But I think at the end, Leon, Judge Leon's going to get there. And I want to talk about I want to clear up some misconceptions about the ballroom hearing, including that if the Trump administration screws up, this could be the judge that orders portions or all of the ballroom to be um tear torn down. But to manage expectations, no judge is ever going to order that they rebuild the east wing. It's just, you know, the middle of the night demolition is over. Now the question is, how do we mitigate the damage?

22:31 How big is this thing going to be? But we're going to be getting a ballroom twice the size of the White House itself. Hopefully not, but it's coming. And then the then the next president's going to have to decide what to do with all these things, you know, and and we're just going to spend an inordinate amount amount of taxpayer dollars trying to fix not just policy after Donald Trump leaves, not just laws, but like all the all the programs and things that he changed the name of, you know, the future um sit down for this one. Trump Center for the Performing Arts, we have to change it back to Kennedy. You know, the Reagan International Airport, now Trump International, one day, gonna have to change it back. The Trump Peace Institute. God, almost threw up on that one. Change it back. The Department of War. We don't have to worry about that.

23:23 It was never properly changed anyway. But we're just, you know, we're going to have to do something with that ballroom. Next president's going to have to do something with it. I don't know. Make it into a museum for the American people dedicated to the rogue gallery that ran the Trump administration. make it like, you know, make it like a hall of infamy. Uh something like something something's got something's got to be done with that and we'll we'll deal with that in due time. So, we'll talk about the ballroom hearing.

23:52 Trump's looks like he's walking away from his continued fights about the US attorneys and getting his political hacks appointed. And then we've got some more liable suits because Donald Trump is bored in his day job of crushing the hopes and dreams of the American people. So, he has to file uh lawsuits about every three months against the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and now the BBC. And it uh well, I better give you my my approach to what I think just happened and what will happen. And then and then a judge, Judge Karatelli, made a ruling that is going to help out James Comey, the FBI director, in any attempts to reindict him. And I will give you the update on that. I'm glad you're here on the intersection with Michael Popach. If you just stumbled in, it's a podcast just me. Sometimes I bring in a guest.

24:42 Uh, and you and I, you know, we have our dialogue and I try to check the chat where I can. I'm waiting for my assistant Allan to send me some more questions. I'll do that after the break. Uh, but thank you for supporting us because it's hard to get a new podcast up and running. Not easy. 99.9% of podcasts are like three people watch it. It's like so so the fact that we're top 30 of all podcast on YouTube is just gives me chills down my spine but also is a reflection that we're doing the right that we're doing the right thing that you know the effort and time and and um sweat that we put into all things Midas and legal AF the intersection is matters and it's important and I'm glad you're I'm glad you're here for it.

25:29 There's different ways to support what we do and keep this particular podcast up and running. Audio versions just put in intersection on Apple and Spotify and all of that good stuff. And leave a fivestar review and comments that helps. I think we got about 500 reviews so far. I think we're trailing at about 4.9. I appreciate all that. YouTube, let other people know and bring them here. And then we've got the Legal AF YouTube channel, which we're we're showing a little version of here. uh 10 11 videos a day. I got 12 different commentators.

26:02 We just brought on the American Civil Liberties Union to be a regular contributor. Democracy Forward and all their 50 60 cases with Sky Perman is a has a regular playlist. Uh we've got Court Accountability Action. We've got um Cindy Blumenthal and Sean Wentz who are our resident historians. It's just uh we it's just an amazing one-stop shop under one pane of glass place for all things law and politics and and interviews I I think you'll find very very rewarding. We we've had just this week Eric Holder, the attorney general.

26:37 I'm going to have Rob Bont, the AG for uh California and rumored to be a a governor candidate. Maybe maybe I'll ask him that question coming on with me on Friday. We've got the heads of lawyers uh for American democracy that were just on with me today. Uh just a an amazing assemblage I think you'll enjoy. But we're this close. We're on the 2yard line of getting 1 million subscribers mainly free uh at Legal AF YouTube channel. And that's a rarified world there. I think we're we're going to make it in about two weeks. We'll hit our deadline of Christmasish but with your help. So check the notes below. Go over to Legal AF YouTube channel and hit the free subscribe button. We don't have outside investors.

27:24 We don't have uh payw wall. That's the way to support us. And uh uh and also finally we've also got a uh our sponsors. You know, let me do legal a Substack first because that's we're really trying to give some love there as well. So Substack, if you don't know what Substack is, check it out. anything that you're interested in, a hobby, uh, interest, they have somebody writing and doing amazing things and probably more than one on Substack and we're there. We've got about 120,000 subscribers, which is substantial and we do a we do quality quality work for you there. We do lives, live reporting, written written work, the videos, different things. come over to Legal AF Substack, help us get to We're trying to get to 200,000 in the next couple of months. We can do it with your help. And if you can swing a paid subscription, I think it's like, I don't know, $6.77 per month. And that goes for production

28:23 and our editors and keeps the lights on and make sure that you get the independent media analysis that you're looking for. And then we've got our sponsors, some of which have been with us uh for a long time. There's one in particular tonight that's going to be shown that that's been with us since almost like day one. And then some more recent sponsors. We love them all because they know what we what we're all about on Intersection and on uh Midas Touch First Amendment Speech. They like our audience. They want to support the show and keep us on the air. And um here's a word from our sponsors. When it comes to dog food, it seems like you have to make a choice. You can either have well fresh and healthy or you can have easy to store and serve. but never both. But you don't have to choose anymore, thanks to Sundays. Sundays was founded by a veterinarian and mom, Dr.

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31:43 See, that's a perfect example. Aura Frames have been with us forever. I mean, like I remember doing an Aura Frame ad like four years ago and Sundays for dogs, the dog food is slightly more recently, probably in the last couple years. But yeah, you see how the the the the sponsors stick with us through thick and thin, and we appreciate them and thank you and thank them for doing that. Uh let's talk about the um the ballroom uh that we're all up in arms about. And Judge Leon got assigned, Richard Leon got assigned a Bush appointee to the case in DC and he decided to hold a emergency temporary restraining order today. And I'll just I'm just going to bottom line it. Um because the National Trust moved too too late. You know, they should have done it when we were all up in arms watching bulldozers bulldoze the East Wing after Donald Trump told the American people, "No, we're not going to really

32:46 touch the East Wing." No, I I've seen that was a lie to the American people because attached to the Trump administration Department of Justice filings today before the hearing were environmental impact reports prepared by, you know, federal offices way back when that said this is going to be a complete deconstruction of the East Wing and a replacement with a ballroom. So, the new East Wing is the ballroom. It always was going to be. And certainly, you know, the I love the euphemism, the deconstruction of the East Wing. Sure, we'll salvage some historically important uh architectural features.

33:28 Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Where are they going to be stored? So, but when we saw the bulldozers, that's I mean, I'm a trial lawyer. That's when you run into court and ask for an emergency injunction because a bad thing's happening. You want it to stop. You don't watch it. you wait two months. You know, I I read the um spokesperson, the head of the pre the National Historic Trust, and she was like, "This was not our first option." Uh we uh we tried many other different Yeah, no Problem is, you should have moved quicker because it made it easy for Judge Leon to say, "Well, the damage is done, folks." See, injunctions are to stop future harm. So, demo is over. Now, they're working below ground to do all of the pile driving and foundation work and piping and all of that. And what Judge Leon said is they haven't started vertical construction. And I don't know what the vertical and they haven't even gotten the plans approved, let alone

34:31 finalized. And I don't know what the dimensional issues of these are, if it violates any law. There's meetings in December. There's meetings in January. I've been told by the Trump administration that vertical construction, meaning the above ground, is not going to start until April. We seem to be a little premature. Why don't we all get back together in January? Uh and he also though pointed the finger of the Trump administration and he said, "If you miss any of these meetings, I'm not going to be happy these planning meetings. And if ultimately it is determined that the golden ballroom is too big, it violates, it didn't pass these these committees and congressional authority, you're going to be tearing part of it down. And that's happened before. For those who think that's never going to happen, I've been involved in cases or I know of cases where buildings have been built higher than they were

35:26 supposed to be built and judges have ordered that parts get lpped off of buildings and it's happened. Tear down the, you know, the 42nd through 59th floor. Uh they have that power because there's no other relief. It can't just be damages. What do you do? you know, give money to people on the street because the building's too high. It's got to be some sort of remedy. And so, we could have a tear down situation on the on the grounds of the White House. But I loved the justification in the papers that the uh and we have them up on Legal AF Substack. Another reason to go to Legal AF Substack is that we've got for paid members all the legal all the pleadings, all the o the motions and the briefing and the orders. So, you can read them for yourself. everything that I use to prepare for my hot takes, I give you the toolbox. And um hopefully with that and AI, I won't be replaced. Who knows? But

36:19 in any event, if AI starts wearing cool glasses, I'm I'm dead. I think that's what I'm trying to say. So, uh in their papers, they can't file a paper without reminding us that he's the commander-in-chief and in charge of foreign policy. I'm like, okay. And therefore, you get to tear down the ballroom in the middle of the East Wing in the middle of the night. Oh yes, the ballroom's got to be a secure location for all the diplomatic state dinners that he's going to be conducting. How many more state dinners? He's going to be out of office. You know, come the midterms, he's going to be a dead, not lame duck, dead duck, and then he's out.

36:58 So, how many like state, you know, and Melania hates state dinners. Ivanka won't come back to the White House. So, how many state dinners is he really going to have? No, he's going to stick it to us that we're gonna have to use this thing. Uh and then and then in their papers besides saying, "Well, he's got the foreign affairs power, everybody. That's pretty powerful." They then went on to say, um, he just did what other presidents have done. And they gave this whole list, this fraudulent list of what other presidents have done. Jefferson built the I'm like, first of all, all right, we stop. That was before all the laws that you've now violated were even here. you violated those laws. Jefferson didn't violate the laws in 1801.

37:41 He built this portico and that portico and this and then the and and then they always have to have the line and it was a then the public was upset and the press was upset just like now. Yeah. when Truman redecorated. Oh, the press. When they pulled out the bowling alley, or as Caroline Levette liked to say during the press press uh presser recently, there's been a lot of renovations to the White House that were allowed by other presidents. Like the room we're in right now, this used to be a swimming pool. I just can't I find it she's so insufferable. I find her very very difficult to listen to because she's so smarmy and too smart by half.

38:25 And uh but Donald Trump loves her. We know that. Oh, those machine gun lips on on uh on Carolyn Levette. Yep. Uh that's how you know she's lying because her lips are moving when she talks, right? So the ballroom hearing, that's what happened there. Uh let's move on to Trump and um US attorneys because he's starting to give up the fight. But I'll tell you what that really means. Let's see if if we have any more. Um uh now I just went back and forth with my assistant. I said, "Hey, send me more questions." He says, "Yeah, okay, good."

38:57 I'm like, "Now, this would be a good while the show is still on. That would be a really good uh really good idea." Let me see if I can grab some on the fly here. It's harder for me. Um, so, um, we all know that in in at least five or six different locations, in New Jersey, in the Northern District of New York, in, uh, Virginia, in Vegas, in Nevada, in California, Donald Trump is trying to put his political hacks in, who have no prosecutor prosecutorial experience, MAGA MAGA, um, to do his bidding, who would never be able to get confirmed at the in the Senate, even by these senators, but he that's not Donald Trump's intention. He doesn't want to get any of them confirmed. He just wants them to do his political retribution while he's uh while he's um in office.

39:54 That's one thing from the Susie Wilds Vanity Fair article I left out. She admitted that he's using political retribution to go after James Comey and Leticia James. I mean I mean the lawyers for Tis James and Comey are probably popping champagne corks after reading the Vanity Fair article because it plays right into their argument of vindictive prosecution. What do you think political retribution is? It's another word for vindictive prosecution which is a concept in the law that gets indictments dismissed. But you know she said but she said oh but he like like he was a bad little boy. But he promised me he would only do it in the first 90 days of the administration. How's that going, Susie?

40:35 You thought you could control him? And the other revelation is there's some sort of ticker por that that has all of his truth social posts running by the fireplace like on a screen. Um, so I guess they can react in real time. Like when he announced today that he's going to be he's going to war with Venezuela by social media post, they they probably saw it for the first time and then they got to react. Yeah, that's that's what we learned from Susie Wild. So Trump had been putting all these people in. Alina Haba, John Zar Zarone, Lindseay Halligan, this crazy person in Nevada, another one in California, but now they're all resigning after a number of court losses, three that I can count. So Alina Haba resigned. This other one in Virginia resigned. Nevada's probably going to resign. And Donald Trump's now moving to try to convince John Thoon, the Senate majority leader, to get rid of the blue slips. I mean, this is a

41:34 tradition dating back 200 years that you can't get a candidate through without the support of both senators from that state. If it's a something, you know, if that person's tied to a state like a state US attorney or judge, and you got to have both US, you got to have both senators. It's a check, a check on the process. and they either turn in their blue slips, we approve, or they withhold their blue slips. So when you hear about blue slips, that's what they're talking about. And and one's not good enough. You need two, it's like Willy Wonka, but you need two golden tickets to get whatever position you want. Donald Trump hates that. Why do we have to?

42:15 And so he's trying to get rid of the blue slip process, which is terrible undermining of Senate tradition that we've relied on to kind of stop Donald Trump and other presidents from putting partisan acts into positions that they're not qualified to do. So that seems to be his new tactic and we're going to continue to follow that very, very, very closely. And because Donald Trump is bored with his day job, as I said earlier, of wrecking uh hopes and dreams of Americans and crushing them economically, morally, socially, from a reproductive rights standpoint, uh or as I like to say now, who voted for this? I say this is my new catchphrase. You know, I'm at the airport. I'm watching ICE chase after somebody in the airport while I'm about to board a plane. I turn to people I don't even know and I go, who voted for this? That's my new catchphrase. Let me know in chat whether you whether I should use that on a regular basis. And

43:10 everybody laughed in the airport. They were like, none of us voted for this. Uh there's so much pent up anger at Donald Trump, which is starting, of course, to be reflected in the polls. Uh which I appreciate hopefully in the polling, which I appreciate and I hope will end up um being his demise. So, let's turn to the liel suits, uh, and defamation suits, which are effectively the same thing, except liable is in writing and, um, defamation is in um, it can be done orally. Look, I've got some new questions from my assistant. Tatiana Foley asks, can the c can the Senate remove a cabinet official like Pete Hegsth? He could be impeached. He could be impeached like a president. Uh so he can be indicted, if you will, impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate and removed. Yes. Yes, he can. And at the rate he's going, like today he he did a confidential briefing about that Venezuelan the first boat blow up in

44:18 September the 2nd blowing people out of the water with their backs turned, including a couple of guys hanging off the shipwreck. And now they're refusing to show the video. Does anybody think he's refusing to show the video because it's a the video would be good for him or it would be war crime for him? Put it in the put it in the chat. And uh yes, so to answer your question, that's how you remove a cabinet official. Um Domingo 2390, Proud Boys are trying to sue the US for millions. Yep. But since they accepted the pardon and therefore admitted guilt, can they really sue?

44:55 Sure. Sure. Absolutely. They're going to say, uh, you know, whatever. They were railroaded, pardoned, you know, trust me, they're going to sue. And there, you don't even have to worry about ever seeing a court have to decide your issue, which is interesting because the Trump administration's just going to use the phony lawsuit as cover to settle. And that's what groups like Democracy Forward and American Oversight and other public interest groups that we have on legal layoff regularly. That's why they're filing their Freedom of Information Act requests because they want to know what's going on with the Ashley Babbot settlement with her family. Uh what's going on with this phony settlement, you know, or lawsuit in order to give cover to the Department of Justice. Donald Trump's suing his own country. Donald Trump has a case right now making its way through the Federal Tour Claims Act where he wants to sue

45:50 the Department of Justice for his attorney's fees totaling like a hund00 million for what he was put through because he's a criminal and we reported on it. It just hasn't popped out yet as a lawsuit. Wait till that's filed as a lawsuit. People forgot about that. I didn't. We didn't. So, yes, the guy that's suing his own government and his own American people, yes, we'll find a way to pay the Proud Boys. Um, the only thing that stops Donald Trump from doing stuff like this is his political calculus that it's not going to help him.

46:25 Although, we're back to how I started the podcast tonight. Who what is the constituency that is in favor of celebrating the stabbing death of an American icon who happens to be a Democrat in uh Rob Ryder? Who what what is it? That's there's there's some MAGA group that's Yeah, he deserved it. This is the guy that stopped America for several days because Charlie Kirk was killed. literally stopped the stopped American government business, flew the entire cabinet to Arizona, let a podcast be led by the vice president of the United States with Steven Miller in the White House, and Rob Reiner, who I'm not saying he's the Charlie Kirk of the other side, but certainly a celebrated American and somebody whose foundation is had has been doing some amazing work, including cases that we count on like the Defense of Marriage Act. Uh you ghoulishly celebrate his death and blame him for his own death as the president of the

47:38 United States. See, there's just people and I see it in my own interactions with people because I'm, you know, I'm outside. I'm out in the world. And people that like a year ago were like, "Well, we're willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. He's better than Kabala." You know, all those kind of phrases. Well, it'll be good for the economy at least. And now a year later, I literally got stopped by somebody who was in that first camp who's kind of more independent than MAGA. And he said, quote, Trump is an effing a-hole.

48:11 Go, you're just waking up to that now. But people are just waking up to it now. And the polling shows it. It's not It's not the Trump derangement syndrome. It's that Trump is deranged and everybody is starting to recognize it, especially voters. I think I think, call me a cockeyed optimist, I think midterms are going to be a historic bloodbath for the Republicans and they know it because they can't get on that affordability train fast enough because a we're not letting them on. We're like kicking them off as they they're not you can't this this we're the party of affordability.

48:52 Really? You can be the party of billionaires and trillionaires, but you can't be the party and golden ballrooms and marble bathrooms, but you can't be the party of affordability. All right? You got to pick a lane and the American people have put you in your place. So that's that's where we are with that liel suits where I started. Donald Trump filed a new one. New York Times fired back in one. Where are we? Um, Donald Trump didn't like the fact that in a documentary run on the BBC somewhere, I didn't see it. Somebody watched it, uh, a week before the election about his second coming or his second chance.

49:32 They spliced together some clips from Jan 6 and the Ellipse speech. Okay. In which over the course of a rambling, You think he rambles now? Well, he rambled then, too. The course of this 53 minute speech, he said at one point, "And I'm going to go down to the Capitol with you." So, he So, remember what we learned from the Gen 6 committee. This was an angry armed mob, okay? that he was whipping up and fermenting that he then like a weapon turn turned them pivoted them and aimed them like a missile at the capital. That's what we're going to go down to the capital and I'm going to be there with you. That's what that was folks and that's what happened. How do I know?

50:23 Because that's what happened as they didn't march on the capital like John Donald Trump likes to say like Martin Luther King. They attacked the capital and assaulted the capital like the War of 1812 and try to burn it to the ground and kill everybody inside. That's historical facts everybody. Sorry. Sorry it's not a not to our audience but sorry it's not a a love fest but that's where we are. So you've got uh that comment and then later on he talks about but of course I mean peacefully and but we got to fight. We got to fight. Got to fight for we got to fight for our country. Got to fight.

51:04 We don't fight we're going to lose it. So they put the two things together. We're going to go down to the capital. D we're going to fight fight fight. DONALD TRUMP SAID OH YOU left out that whole part that that half a sentence when I said be peaceful. Okay. And you know this is the same guy that couldn't bring himself. He was seething uh be but his uh family and advisers in the Trump administration the first time pushed him out the White House and told him to go give a give a statement to tell the people to stop burning down the capital and he couldn't you saw it we've all seen the clip it's up on a a video of mine on legal AF you know which he said uh well the the election was stolen that's how he started it the election was stolen everybody stolen election we're all very very upset nobody more than me, but you but you need to go home, but you we love you. We love you. Well, they're burning

51:55 down the capital and chasing Nancy Pelosi through the halls of the capital. We love you. So, that's the same guy. It's very hard to defame that. See, to defame that guy, he's got to have a certain character. This is what I liked about the recent filing by by the Wall Street Journal in their defense of the liel case brought against them because they published the Epstein birthday book with page 233 of the obscene birthday card drawn by or on behalf of Donald Trump and inserted in pasted into a book from 30 years ago. Right? They they argued and they're right. Donald Trump can't be defamed. He's incapable of being defamed because his personal reputation is so poor you can't even defame it. That's what they're all arguing now using his own words and his own actions. How can you defame somebody that just celebrated the stabbing death of Rob Reiner and barely acknowledged the death of students at Brown University and try to

53:00 make a political hay out of the Bondi Beach massacre? How do you defame that person? I've said that from the beginning. I said Eugene Carol should argue there's no way to defame him. He's incapable. There's just some people on planet Earth that can't be defamed. You can't defame Hitler. You can't defame Charlie Manson. See where I'm going? Okay. So, he files a case against the British Broadcasting Corporation for this. And then he uses all sorts of other Oh, they've always had it out for me. You know, they once said that I I wanted my political rival Liz Cheney shot in the face. I didn't say that.

53:38 What I said was she's a hawk for war. And wouldn't it be great if there were nine barrels pointed at her face and she got shot in the face? I I'm sorry. That seems to be splitting hairs, don't you think? I didn't ask for her to be shot in the face. I just said, wouldn't it be a shame if she was? And and he thinks this helps him. So he gets the same lawyer in this little firm in Coral Gables, Florida, Alejandro Prito, who files all these cases right down the street from his office in Miami, hoping he doesn't get Judge Gail again because he's gotten Judge Gail twice for the Michael Cohen defamation case that went nowhere. And now for the Wall Street Journal case that was brought and hope he gets another judge.

54:21 when I I didn't get a chance to see what judge was actually um assigned. I'll know better because I know the judges well in Miami, but it's'll be another motion to dismiss one. I think it's in the wrong country. I think that case needs to be brought in England and in the UK under the laws of uh England and Wales as they like to say uh for defamation or liable under the laws there, not here. That's the first argument. The second one will be motion to dismiss first amendment right, freedom of the press, no actual malice, can't defame him, you know, like that.

54:54 On the same day that he filed that again to distract step on the microcycle news cycle, the New York Times in middle district of Florida up in Sarasota in front of Judge Merryweather filed their motion to dismiss the the U liel case against the New York Times because you know New York Times is mean to him about his finances and his daddy and the fraud they probably perpetrated as the New York Times reported in uh in uh how they handled affordable housing and some other development. And you may remember Meriday took one look at the first complaint that was filed by the same lawyer I just told you about, uh, Alejandro Breto, and said, "I got this. I'm dismissing this." She didn't even wait for the New York Times.

55:43 He said, "I'm dismissing this. This is a political rant masquerading as a lawsuit effectively, and I'll give you another chance." And they filed, and it got better. But now the New York Times today filed or yesterday filed their uh motion to dismiss and you know it'll be probably in January February before we find out but I read the motion to dismiss is very very strong. I'm sure they're going to win that case and uh the motion to dismiss hearing on the motion to dismiss about the Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch in the birthday book was heard last week and we're waiting for Judge Gales to make a ruling there.

56:22 So, Donald Trump probably knowing he's going to lose the New York Times case, going to lose the Wall Street Journal case about the birthday book. Everybody, who hasn't seen the birthday book, we have it. It's up on Legal AF Substack with a link. You can read all 233 pages of the of this Epstein birthday card. Uh, he's going to lose those two. So, he's got to open up a new front, a new war, a new battle. Hurry up, file the case. We need the one against the BBC for5 billion dollars. It's always the number. So, that's been filed and I'll report back on Legal AF and on Substack Live when I get the update about who the judge is, but it's going to take the same course. Could be the similar law firms. There's a couple of law firms like uh uh I think it's Wright Tmaine or Tmaine Wright. There's a couple of first amendment law firms out of New York that do that do an amazing job in this area.

57:13 They know the law like the back of their hand and uh they usually join forces like one local law firm here. just a little inside baseball that I know well, Gunster Oakley that that has good offices up and down the east coast of Florida and I think on the Tampa also. They've been local council because you need a local council to work with these New York firms uh against Donald Trump personally and uh they join forces, they share notes and all that good stuff. But the best argument is the one I just laid out, which is Donald Trump is incapable literally of being um defamed because of his lack of character. Let me do some final questions here. You guys like this question answering thing because I don't I like doing it. Um uh Henry Rosenbush wrote, "Do you think any fellow journalists will stand up for their female colleagues when Trump says misogynist and cruel remarks to their to their questions?" That is such a great

58:10 question and you may have caught Henry or others. I did a whole piece on that about a week ago. Uh when Donald Trump's busy saying quiet piggy, hush piggy, you know, I'm smarter than you and all these other ridiculous, misogynistic, sexist things that he says out loud, I I want two things to happen. I'd like the the female reporter to look the president in the eye backed by her colleagues and say a version of Mr. President that's that is beneath you your office and me certainly that is undignified and uncalled for. I'm doing my job under the first amendment freedom of the press.

58:54 you're apparently doing your job and uh it every answer to every question should not start off with a personal attack, especially one that's often sexist. Somebody's got to say that and I would like Now the problem is a lot of these reporters are young and they don't want to shut off the access and be banished from the White House. But then I want a m then I want as as uh was just noted there by one of our watchers then I want a male colleague to stand up and say Mr. President, it is inappropriate for you to do what you are doing to my female colleagues. And I'm going to now ask the question that you refuse to ask because apparently of her gender. Um, and then and my other thing is how about the entire press corps except for MAGA when Carolyn Levik enters the room is they're either not in the room, they have a sick day or more, or they turn their back on her. Trust me, they can do their

59:52 reporting without being in the room. You know, it's like six people get to ask a question. You can watch the live feed. They can do it without you. And then you can do all your other reporting. It'll give you it'll free you up to go running around Washington to try to do some investigative reporting instead of sitting around listening to the propaganda coming out of the North Korean press secretary and Carolyn Levit. But somebody's got to do something. But, you know, Donald Trump early on, you know, Associated Press, you won't say Gulf of Trump or Gulf of America, whatever it is, banished. Then they gota like, you know, spend hundreds of millions, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to get their press credentials back. Jim Acasta, this one, that one. You know, the Pentagon has effectively banned everybody who's a legitimate news organization from the room and it's now just filled with MAGA

1:00:43 MAGA, including Laura Loomer is in Pentagon briefings in which they came out and I don't know where they get these this press cor this uh uh uh communications officers or press secretaries for these different departments. They're all like mid20s coming out of the, you know, the factory trained by Steven Chung and Caroline Levit and they all, well, it's good to look around and finally see an impartial group instead of the liberal media that's always bashing the Department of War. I'm like, are I'm sorry. Is this is this is this, you know, communist China? Is this North Korea? Where are we? And yet now now I I do credit the New York Times and and Washington Post because they said they threw their credentials in. They said, "Forget it.

1:01:38 Forget it. We'd rather not report from inside the Pentagon if that's what we have to do." I'd like to see the regular press corps try some version of that. Um Gilbert Goodman asked, "Why haven't they called Hexith in for a public hearing?" It's coming. It's coming. He's doing these closed door briefings now, but the he he's not going to be able to avoid it. He's not the Armed Services Committee is going to be calling him in and Democrats are going to be asking questions. No doubt. My team tells me there's overwhelming yeses in the chat about the Q&A, so I will continue to do them. I'm so glad you're here with us on the intersection.

1:02:19 Legal AF, of course, the the grand papy of them all. uh Wednesdays and Saturdays at 800 PM Eastern time on the Midas Touch Network Intersection, a newer show that I do here on my own. On Tuesday nights at 800 PM in in uh Eastern time, invite your friends. But you're obviously doing it. I mean, the fact that we're in the top 30 in all YouTube podcasts, regardless of the type, it's just it's just uh like amazing to me. I just has goose I have goosebumps. And then uh Legal AF, the YouTube channel. Have I mentioned that we're really close to 1 million subscribers recently? Uh even that's out of date. I think we just posted uh we're about uh 13,000 away, which is like two three weeks away from hitting our 1 million subscribers in about a year's time.

1:03:13 And I know it. what keeps me energized and uh getting up in the morning full of vim and vigor and hitting the the microphone and doing the work that we do and continuing to build, you know, the and the bigger that we are, the more street credibility that we have. It's not just like it's not ego like, oh, I get the YouTube trophy. I never got the YouTube trophy for 100,000 subscribers. It's still in the mail. I never got the hardware. It's not that. It's the bigger we are, the more street credibility we have. So when we speak to an attorney, attorney general or a jud a former judge or a politician, a senator, you know, last week we had uh Sheldon White House on this week Eric Holder. Uh the American Civil Liberties Union, you know, when we were like 25,000 subs a year ago. I'm not getting the American Civil Liberties Union to join forces with us or Democracy Forward. Uh I I'm just not um and I am now because of you.

1:04:15 And that is the benefit. Sure. It keeps the lights on. It lets us expand, bring in more editors, bring in more content, bring bring in more more people. I'm speaking to another major major talent to join us on a regular basis. I can't reveal it yet because I'm not there yet, but they I think you guys will will be blown away with um this particular voice uh and their viewpoint. and I'm working hard for that to get it on board by January. But that that's uh we're building this channel, this network, this ecosystem together with our bare hands and uh I really appreciate all that you do and I'm glad you're here on the intersection. I'm Michael Popock.

1:04:58 Shout out to the mightest mighty and the legal affers. 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 hottake, 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 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

What is "LIVE: Popok Gives URGENT UPDATE on Breaking Legal news | 12/16/2025" about?

Michael Popok provides an urgent update on current legal news, focusing on Donald Trump's controversial behavior and public response to recent tragedies, including a shooting in Australia and a shooting in Rhode Island. He critiques Trump's inability to communicate empathetically during these events and questions the demographic of supporters who accept his divisive rhetoric and actions.

What is mentioned in this MeidasTouch episode?

97 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Legal AF, Susie Wiles, The Intersection, Libel, Russell Vought, Brett Leon. 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 | 12/16/2025"?

The episode runs 1 h 6 min; the transcript is about 11,189 words in 82 timestamped sections.

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