Transcript

LIVE: Trump INVASION inside USA ESCALATES + SCOTUS HEARING | Legal AF

From MeidasTouch · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 23 min · 13,660 words · 100 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "LIVE: Trump INVASION inside USA ESCALATES + SCOTUS HEARING | Legal AF", an episode of MeidasTouch published January 25, 2026 (1 h 23 min, about 13,660 words). It mentions 24 people, works and ideas, including Donald Trump, Fourth Amendment, Trump regime, ICE, Department of Justice.

What this episode is about

The discussion highlights the escalating enforcement actions by ICE and Border Patrol in Minnesota under the Trump administration, including violent incidents, child abductions, and controversial use of administrative warrants to bypass judicial oversight. Additionally, it examines the failed prosecution attempts against Don Lemon for his involvement in protests, revealing concerns about the legality and motivations behind these actions.

Key takeaways

  • When ICE becomes its own judge, it’s not blind justice—it’s a judicial funhouse mirror.
  • Kids in teddy bear hats are now bait? Welcome to the dystopia of border enforcement.
  • The Trump regime’s clever ploy: administrative warrants—because who needs pesky judicial oversight?
  • Prosecuting Don Lemon is like hunting mice with a bazooka—ineffective and full of collateral damage.
  • Turning facial features into political propaganda? That’s not art, that’s artistic malpractice by the DOJ.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Donald Trump, Trump regime, Jack Smith, Judge Aileen Cannon
  2. – 20:00: Fourth Amendment, Donald Trump, Minnesota, Department of Justice
  3. – 30:00: Donald Trump, Don Lemon, St. Paul, Trump regime
  4. – 40:00: First Amendment, Don Lemon, Department of Justice, Nikima Armstrong
  5. – 50:00: Donald Trump, Minnesota, Don Lemon, First Amendment
  6. – 1:00:00: Donald Trump, ICE, Dr. Lisa Cook, Jack Smith
  7. – 1:10:00: Donald Trump, Dr. Lisa Cook, Federal Reserve, Jack Smith
  8. – 1:20:00: Donald Trump, Department of Justice, Jack Smith, Judge Aileen Cannon
  9. – 1:22:47: Michael Popock

Notable quotes from "LIVE: Trump INVASION inside USA ESCALATES + SCOTUS HEARING | Legal AF"

  • We have a lot to discuss on this episode of Legal AF. All hell is breaking loose in Minnesota as Donald Trump's Gustapo.
    about Donald Trump · at
  • Border Patrol signing off on themselves because they basically put themselves as administrative judges, and they're now using that to get around the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.
    about Fourth Amendment · at
  • I'll just say it's with cause. So Donald Trump and Bill Tipy and other crooks in that regime cooked up a scheme to basically say Lisa Cook engaged in all this misconduct with mortgage fraud.
    about Dr. Lisa Cook · at
  • Trump's theft of classified documents that he hid in Mara Lago. Pam Bondi at the DOJ saying, Well, Judge Eileen Cannon, the judge who presided over the case, has still kept…
    about Department of Justice · at
  • We would just drill down and train our sites and be unrelenting in the coverage of what we're observing. And Minnesota, we're going to kick it off next, is ground zero right now for the attack.
    about Minnesota · at
  • People's Let me do it this way. I totally agree with you. Let's just break out our legal AF law school class here for a minute because a lot of people especially around the world not only around the world but in our own country.
    about Michael Popock · at
  • Don Lemon, a journalist, a First Amendment chronicler of what was happening during the protest, not a riot at the church, a protest at the church. Okay? I never saw people.
    about Don Lemon · at
  • What's actually happening on the streets of our country, you can see that what's we're not in a constitutional crisis. We are well past that constitutional crisis. There's an…
    about Trump regime · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Donald Trump — Person · Primary referenced political figure / alleged driver of actions discussed · 45 mentions · first at
    Central figure tied to ICE/Border Patrol actions in Minnesota, DOJ efforts against protesters/Don Lemon, and Supreme Court dispute involving Fed Governor Lisa Cook.
  • Don Lemon — Person · Referenced journalist / target of attempted prosecution (as described) · 14 mentions · first at
    Discussed as a journalist present at a St. Paul church protest; hosts claim DOJ attempted to pursue a criminal complaint against him and courts rejected it.
  • Michael Popock — Person · Co-host / on-air legal commentator · 3 mentions · first at
    On-air legal analyst and co-host guiding constitutional analysis (First/Fourth Amendment), court procedure, and Supreme Court/DOJ developments.
  • Dr. Lisa Cook — Person · Referenced public official at center of Supreme Court dispute · 13 mentions · first at
    Discussed as a Federal Reserve Board Governor whom Trump allegedly sought to remove “for cause,” prompting Supreme Court oral arguments.
  • Jack Smith — Person · Referenced former Special Counsel / congressional witness · 13 mentions · first at
    Discussed for testimony before Congress and for authorship of a report (including “volume two”) about Trump’s classified documents case, with DOJ/Cannon sealing disputes.
    Courts and the Supreme Court heard the oral arguments. We'll break down what happened there. special counsel Jack Smith gave testimony before Congress. We previously covered his deposition testimony and we've uploaded the full deposition.
  • Judge Aileen Cannon — Person · Referenced federal judge connected to sealing/records disputes · 7 mentions · first at
    Discussed as the judge who presided over the classified documents case and is described as keeping records sealed; DOJ allegedly sought continued sealing.
    Documents that he hid in Mara Lago. Pam Bondi at the DOJ saying, Well, Judge Eileen Cannon, the judge who presided over the case, has still kept these records sealed. So, if…
  • Attorney General Pam Bondi — Person · Referenced DOJ leader (as described) involved in threats/positions re: Smith/Cannon · 4 mentions · first at
    Portrayed as a DOJ figure asserting Jack Smith should not discuss sealed material and supporting efforts to keep “volume two” from release.
    Bail and released them to their own recgnissance or after a bond or bail hearing. Pam Bondi did not like that the magistrate judge and then the federal judge would not in sign off on the criminal complaint for Don Lemon.
  • Mark Carney — Person · Referenced international political/economic leader used as contrast to Trump · 3 mentions · first at
    Cited as receiving acclaim at Davos and as a foil to Trump’s performance; used to frame global opposition to Trump.
    Have the global world achieve during the Trump presidency. And it name was not Donald Trump. His name was Mark Carney. He's not the governor of Canada, as Donald Trump likes to…
  • Nikima Armstrong — Person · Referenced protest leader / defendant (as described) · 3 mentions · first at
    Identified as a lead protester at the St. Paul church; hosts claim the White House posted AI-manipulated images of her, relevant to alleged vindictive prosecution arguments.
    Have darker skin and made her cry and said arrested far-left agitator Nikima Levy Armstrong arrested for orchestrating church riots in Minnesota.
  • Renee Nicole Good — Person · Referenced victim (as described) in Minnesota incident · 1 mention · first at
    Named as a U.S. citizen allegedly killed by Border Patrol/ICE activity; used to underscore claims of escalating violence and constitutional violations.
    Right? an American citizen killed today in Minneapolis by border patrol. Renee Nicole Good, American citizen killed in cold blood by Ice Gustapo. when we've been seeing a lot…
  • George Herbert Walker Bush — Person · Referenced former president (via judge appointment context) · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned to identify the appointing president of an Eighth Circuit judge leading a panel rejecting DOJ’s attempt related to Don Lemon.
    So then the DOJ rushed to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeal and you have a panel led by a George W. Bush judge who's basically no way. This is a patently frivolous claim that you're making. So, we'll break that down.
  • Bill Tipy — Person · Referenced alleged participant in scheme (unclear identification) · 1 mention · first at
    Named as part of a purported scheme to justify removing Lisa Cook; identity is unclear from transcript and may be a mis-transcription of another name.
    Donald Trump's well, I guess I'll just say it's with cause. So Donald Trump and Bill Tipy and other crooks in that regime cooked up a scheme to basically say Lisa Cook engaged in all this misconduct with mortgage fraud.

Companies & orgs

  • ICE — Company · Case study · 6 mentions · first at
    Discussed as a controversial entity involved in immigration enforcement and alleged human rights violations.
    Warrants and instead using administrative warrants. So, no judges signing off on it. Basically, ICE and Border Patrol signing off on themselves because they basically put…
  • Department of Justice — Company · Case study · 15 mentions · first at
    Criticized for its actions under the Trump administration, particularly in prosecuting protesters and journalists.
  • Federal Reserve — Company · Case study · 7 mentions · first at
    Discussed in the context of Trump's attempts to influence its independence.
    That just shows you how dastardly this Trump regime is. So, we're going to talk about all of that. talk about big oral arguments at the Supreme Court regarding Trump's attempt…
  • Midas Touch — Company · Business focus · 4 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as the platform where content related to the discussion is uploaded.
    Jack Smith gave testimony before Congress. We previously covered his deposition testimony and we've uploaded the full deposition testimony on the Midas Touch YouTube page. We've also covered Jack Smith's testimony on Congress. what a clown.

Concepts & topics

  • Fourth Amendment — Concept · Core topic · 8 mentions · first at
    Central to discussions about unreasonable searches and seizures by ICE and Border Patrol.
  • Trump regime — Concept · Core topic · 7 mentions · first at
    Central to discussions about alleged authoritarian practices and constitutional violations.
  • First Amendment — Concept · Core topic · 11 mentions · first at
    Discussed in the context of protests and journalism, particularly the prosecution of Don Lemon.
    And ultimately the federal judge was No, there's a little thing called the first amendment. This is journalism.
  • Epstein file — Concept · Referenced topic · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in the context of public opinion and Trump's administration.
    He's underwater by between 20 and up to 44 points underwater when you talk when you throw in the Epstein files. And that's just the people that call themselves Democrats or…

Places & events

  • Minnesota — Place · Setting · 12 mentions · first at
    Primary location where ICE and Border Patrol actions are being discussed.
  • St. Paul — Place · Setting · 5 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as the location of protests and subsequent prosecutions.
    We'll also talk about the efforts by the Trump regime to prosecute Don Lemon for protest that took place at a church in St. Paul earlier today. an order by the eighth circuit court of.
  • World Economic Forum — Event · Referenced event · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in the context of Trump's international relations and reputation.
    But there's so much that we could also say about Donald Trump's disastrous trip to Davos in Switzerland. But I think it is related and I'll pass it to you now because it just…
  • Switzerland — Place · Setting · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in the context of international relations and the World Economic Forum.
    But there's so much that we could also say about Donald Trump's disastrous trip to Davos in Switzerland. But I think it is related and I'll pass it to you now because it just…

Full transcript with timestamps

We have a lot to discuss on this episode of Legal AF. All hell is breaking loose in Minnesota as Donald Trump's Gustapo. His ICE and Border Patrol forces escalate their terror on the communities there. Another US citizen murdered, this time by border patrol. Three shootings in the past 3 weeks alone. We've learned of two-year-olds being kidnapped and abducted by ICE and Border Patrol. 5-year-olds wearing, you know, blue teddy bear hats, being abducted, being used as bait in order to kidnap the parents. Then ICE and Border Patrol defame the parents and say, "Well, the parents abandoned their child. That's why we had to kidnap their children."

We'll break all of that down. We're also learning about a memo sent by the acting head of ICE regarding not using judicial warrants and instead using administrative warrants. So, no judges signing off on it. Basically, ICE and Border Patrol signing off on themselves because they basically put themselves as administrative judges, and they're now using that to get around the Fourth Amendment's uh protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. We'll also talk about the efforts by the Trump regime uh to prosecute Don Lemon uh for protest that took place at a church in St. Paul earlier today. uh an order by the eighth circuit court of appeal was unsealed. We show the efforts uh showing the efforts with which Donald Trump's Department of Justice has been trying to prosecute Don Lemon. Uh they were too afraid, the DOJ, to try to get an indictment against Don Lemon. So, they tried to just get a magistrate to

sign off on a criminal complaint. We'll break down what those uh distinctions are, but the magistrate said, "What you are giving me is basically patently a frivolous criminal complaint. I'm not going to sign it. You just lumped Don Lemon with the other protesters." And while the other protesters, in my view, and we'll talk about this, did not commit any crimes. What the magistrate judge effectively said is that you're literally saying things that Lemon did that he did not do, and it's on videotape. I I physically can't sign this complaint. Even as you try to do an end run around the kind of probable cause determination that a grand jury would be required to make, the judge is like, I'm I'm not signing off on this.

So then the DOJ rushed to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeal and you have a panel led by a George W. Bush judge who's basically like, no way. This is a patently frivolous claim that you're making. So, we'll uh break that down. But the uh Trump DOJ is still prosecuting now uh one of the some of the lead protesters at the church and they're doing AI manipulated images that they're posting on the official White House account where with the lead protester they made her skin like darker so that she looks like more black and they put tears on her eyes when she was not crying. Um, you know, I think this is going to be clearly brought up before the federal uh judges and frankly a lot of this already has where the Trump regime wants to indefinitely detain the protesters at the church and a magistrate judge and federal judge says, "No, we're not we're not doing that."

Like you you haven't established why these individuals are flight risks and why they shouldn't be returned home. But that just shows you how dastardly this Trump regime is. So, we're going to talk about all of that. talk about big oral arguments at the Supreme Court uh regarding uh Trump's attempt to try to terminate one of the board of uh governors, one of the governors at on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Lisa Cook. You'll recall that previously the Supreme Court said that the Trump regime can't fire any board of governor without cause as Trump was doing with other agencies and departments. So Donald Trump's like, "Ah, well, I guess I'll just say it's with cause." So Donald Trump and Bill Tipy and other uh crooks in that regime cooked up a scheme to basically say Lisa Cook engaged in all this misconduct with mortgage fraud.

There's no findings of anything. There's no prosecution of her. There's no anything. But they try to use it as a four cause termination to get rid of her that was stayed and blocked by lower courts and the Supreme Court uh heard the oral arguments. We'll break down what happened there. special counsel Jack Smith gave testimony uh before Congress. We previously covered his deposition uh testimony uh and we've uploaded the full uh the full deposition testimony on the Midas Touch YouTube page. We've also covered uh Jack Smith's testimony on Congress. Uh what a clown show with these MAGA Republicans. Uh their questions were so awful. Um, and they refused to let Jacksmith talk about volume two, uh, volume two of the, uh, report that he prepared regarding Trump's uh, theft of classified documents that he hid in Mara Lago. Uh, Pam Bondi at the DOJ saying, "Well, Judge Eileen Cannon, the judge who

presided over the case, has still kept these records sealed. So, if you talk about it, Jack Smith, we're going to go after you. Jack, we're going to prosecute you. Even though you're being called to testify in Congress, you can't. you're not allowed to do it. And then the DOJ rushed into court afterwards and uh to Judge Cannon and said that volume two should never be released ever, that it was a fake investigation by Jackson, and that the communications constitute a deliberative privilege, that they're privileged that nobody can ever see volume two. So, in other words, we got a lot to discuss. Michael Popock, it's great to see you and legal AF.

We'll take these all in order, but you know, you know, I I obviously on a show like this, it's we focus on the law. U but there's so much that we could also say about Donald Trump's disastrous trip to Davos in Switzerland. But I think it is related and I'll pass it to you now because it just shows the recklessness, the carelessness, the maliciousness, an embarrassment on the world stage and embarrassment here at home. The opposite of law and order. Yeah, you can you can easily tie everything together and the American people are tying everything together.

You've got the new polling that's come out post Venezuela capture of its oil fields that shows that every battleground state that Donald Trump won, he would lose today, but not by a little, but by a lot. That 60% of America believes that this is a failed administration. and on every key issue that Donald Trump is continuing to press, whether it be affordability, the economy, jobs, uh, world peace, national security, immigration policy, and the like, he's underwater by between 20 and up to 44 points underwater when you talk when you throw in the Epstein files. And that's just the um people that call themselves Democrats or Republicans. The independents have abandoned Donald Trump to the tune of 75% believe that he is wrong for America and he has failed America. you know, somebody went to Davos Switzerland uh, World Economic Forum, and came home a hero to the rest of the world, um, and and, um, laid out a blueprint for how to

have the global world um, achieve during the Trump presidency. And it name was not Donald Trump. His name was Mark Carney. He's not the governor of Canada, as Donald Trump likes to troll even today. is he is the prime minister and he got a standing ovation. What what passes for a standing ovation at Davos and foot stomping when he laid out his plan for the middle the middle countries and middle powers of Europe and Canada to join together to defeat effectively to lick Donald Trump. And um Donald Trump came home a shrunken defeated man um weaker than when he left trying to declare a victory by again another phony signing session, you know, and of course the mainstream media eats it up with all these giant, you know, uh binders with his signature and then somebody smiling next to him. The the reality is the trillions of dollars of foreign investment have never come to fruition.

That's why you don't see any video or pictures of shovel ready projects because of foreign investment that Donald Trump claims happened because of his art of the deal because it never happened. He has to claim phony victory because he's now back to a 1952 agreement about what he could always have done in Greenland. Um a cold war agreement and that's the best he has instead I won. I I want the peace board. Look at my piece. It's just this phony theatrical set pieces that keep getting moved around and then whenever Donald Trump and the and the mainstream media eats it up and then whenever Donald Trump has a terrible terrible news cycle and it's just been unrelentingly bad for him, especially in the last six months, the last two weeks since the start of January, we're all on to his trick. Uh we cover it well on Legal A and Midas Touch Network. It's time for another distraction. I had a bad news cycle.

Jack Smith's testifying. Let me sue Jaimeie Diamond at JP Morgan Chase, which will open up an entire ridiculous can of worms about Donald Trump's own fraud. Uh oh, I had Jack Smith's doing something uh I don't like in terms of uh his testimony in front of the American people. Oh, let me, you know, file something in Mara Lago with my favorite judge, Judge Cannon, to convince her to bind the future department of justice in 2028 to prevent the release of of the Mara Lago report. Um, I don't like what's going on in Epstein. I do, you know, it's just this constant, um, refrain of Donald Trump firing out yet another uh, usually disastrous lawsuit or the like. And then he's got finally, I mean, it fell off the shelf of our coverage today because of the timing.

But now with with Lindseay Halligan resigning in disgrace um because of two back-to-back federal court orders against against the Department of Justice. You've got Pam Bondi who's on her last legs as the head of the Department of Justice. you know, running running around, as you said, to the eighth circuit court of appeals to try to force a magistrate judge to do that which he could never do by way of an indictment in a grand jury, which is to indict Don Lemon for first amendment expression. And the first the thing the thing that frames our show today is the first amendment and the fourth amendment which for me and probably most of our audience are are if you had to just pick out two out of our 10 amendments that make up the bill of rights the most important I think are the first amendment and the fourth amendment u uh about against illegal searches and seizures especially in your home. These

are all under attack right now. And it's the federal judiciary once again, whether it's the district court judge or it's the magistrate judges that are stepping forward to protect our rule of law and reject the lawlessness of the Department of Justice. One last thing, I just did I just did a kind of an essay piece over on Legal AF uh for tomorrow morning. what we were watching since it's almost like a it's almost like a bell or a horn went off Janu and the it's not Trump derangement syndrome it's it's the Trump resistance movement and we're watching it from Jay Powell Federal Reserve chairman coming out uh with a strong video calling out the Trump administration showing up at the Supreme Court during oral argument about the Federal Reserve.

You've got mayors in Minneapolis telling Donald Trump to f off. You've got, you know, uh, Danish diplomats this yesterday telling Donald Trump to go f off. You got Pope Leo and his resistance. You got Mark Carney leading the world, especially Europe and Canada, against Donald Trump. and and and and this is now I think this is the playbook for 2026 and into the midterms which is no we're not going to appease this demented deranged outofcontrol fascist king we are going to oppose him and while the mark cares of the world the claudia shinbounds of the world and and mccrrons are doing it on the global stage uh we then we've got what we're doing in the court system which is to dilute and delay and to win in the courts against Donald Trump's lurching from one constitutional abuse of abuse of power to the next. Uh, and I think that's that's what you and I built here with Legal AF, which is that

we would just drill down and train our sites and be unrelenting in the coverage of what we're observing. And Minnesota, we're going to kick it off next, is is is ground zero right now for the attack. We got a thousand priests being arrested, journalists attempted to be arrested on criminal warrants, people's doors being bashed in in violation of the Fourth Amendment, and and and the only thing that stops us from complete and utter tyranny besides the attorneys general there, the mayors and the governors is the federal courts on the ground in these states.

Let's start off talking about what's going on in Minnesota. So you know earlier in the week pop we learn about these I205 forms uh being used uh in lie of judicial warrants something called a fourth fourth amendment uh the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizures requiring a judicial warrant and showings of probable cause to be made in order to obtain a warrant. But Donald Trump just rips the Constitution apart there. We've seen and we've been covering here on the Midas Touch Network. How these Trump ICE and Border Patrol Gustapo have been breaking into people's homes and they hold up papers, but they're not judicial warrants, right? So, lots of people, what what what are these pieces of paper that they're holding up? They're basically the equivalent of the ICE and Border Patrol signing their own parking tickets and then giving it to you instead of a judicial warrant and saying, "Look, we

signed it. We can uh come in here." Do you remember on I think you and I covered it here on a legal AF episode and we definitely covered it in separate takes that we did. You know, the the DOJ has been putting out ads on X, formerly Twitter, saying if you want to become an administrative law judge, apply. It's basically, remember, the Trump regime fired lots of all these other administrative law judges as well. Um, and they basically had put their own people in to sign off on their own warrants, which are not judicial warrants, and they use that to violate people's

Let me let me do it this way. Um, I I totally agree with you. Let's just break out our legal AF law school class here for a minute because a lot of people especially around the world not only around the world but in our own country when we talk administrative law judge do not think that the judicial branch of our government just because they have the name judge in it just think they work for the president whether they're an administrative law judge in the environmental department securities and exchange commission or here in immigration they are Trump judges they work for the department of justice they work for Donald Trump there is nobody on the other side. It is it is there's not it's not an impartial neutral. It is a Trump or presidentapp appointed person who's serving as a judge. So when you and I talk about the chief judge in quotes of the immigration court, I don't want to leave people with the impression

that that's an article three judicial branch separation of powers thing when it's not. So when when you and I talk about the fourth amendment and what the Supreme Court has said about the fourth amendment which means all persons not citizens all persons is what because you know look the framers of the constitution knew how to use the word citizens when they wanted to. They use person for a reason in the fourth amendment and an illegal migrant or an undocumented migrant is still a person in their own home and the home is their castle or their castle keep. And so what the what the Supreme Court has always said is that unless you're picking up somebody in the public, you know, like, you know, out a church parking lot, a target in Minnesota, apparently, uh even in a courtroom in Milwaukee, if you're going to somebody's home, you got to have a neutral federal judge, district court judge, article 3 judge,

or magistrate judge, reporting to that judge. take in the evidence and the adversarial pro there's really no adversarial process. Have the prosecutor there and the judge and come up yes or no, thumb up or thumb down with a search warrant or thumb up and thumb down on a criminal complaint. We'll talk about next with with uh with Don Lemon. That's what's required to burst through somebody's door. Okay. until apparently in May and 20 thou May of this year, ICE, according to a two insiders who have blown the whistle and they're currently anonymous who sent that memo out and now you and I and everybody else has a copy of it in which it says you're allowed to use a Trump judge to issue a Trump warrant and use that to burst through somebody's front door under the Fourth Amendment. And and and what's the basis for that? A Trump lawyer inside the Department of Homeland Security General Counsel's office gave that

advice. You may be asking at home, where where is the neutrality? Where is the other side? Where is a Supreme Court president? None. They're just testing to see if the Supreme Court's going to let them get away with it. I just did a hot take. You have done a number of them about this this poor woman whose husband from Liberia. He's been here since since he's been a child. He's now in his 30s or 40s checking in all the time with with INS because he's uh he was part of Biden's uh pro parole program, probation program. And uh they came to her door.

She had the presence of mind, the wife, to say, "You I need a warrant." They had no warrant when they first got to her door. They then came back to her door. There were now demonstrators outside who were filming this. They burst through the door. They dragged out her husband and they left her with a photo copy of an I205 form issued by a Trump immigration judge. You know what happened to that person? They got before a federal judge. They ar the lawyers argued that it was a fourth amendment violation and that guy was ordered released from jail. So now we're going to have to do this hand-to-hand combat with federal judges to make sure that our Fourth Amendment rights are preserved. And it's not just the migrants. People that are listening in our audience who are thinking, "Well, I'm not an undocumented migrant, so I got nothing to worry about." This should send a chill down your spine that the

Trump judge with Trump counsel advising them with a Trump agent can burst through your door with a battering ram and take somebody out from within it without a neutral federal judge presiding over the proceeding. That this we're we're all that family. We're, you know, we're all Renee good. We're all the family with a battering ram at the door,

right? I mean, an American citizen killed today in Minneapolis by border patrol. Renee Nicole Good, American citizen killed in cold blood by Ice Gustapo. when we've been seeing a lot of these videos we've been showing here on the Midas Touch Network and shout out to our partners at Status Coup who have boots on the ground who have been videotaping a lot of what's taking place. We've been showing you how these ICE and Border Patrol Gustapo go up to American citizens who are peacefully protesting, gas them, attack them, beat them, brutalize them. I mean, it's it's caught on tape. And then we all saw that footage from Portland, Maine where a lady who was peacefully protesting ICE Gustapo there uh was approached by an ICE officer wearing a mask. He takes a photo of her and she's like, "Why are you taking a photo of me?" He goes, "You're a domestic terrorist now." She's like, "I'm a domestic terrorist. We just

added you to our list and you are now considered a domestic terrorist." And so the Trump regime is also working with AI companies and big tech, creating a list, putting United States citizens who are protesting using facial recognition software uh and using other databases they're creating of people. They're creating lists of who they're determining to be domestic terrorists. And for Donald Trump, if you're Jack Smith, domestic terrorist. If you're Don Lemon, domestic terrorist. If you're protesting the regime, domestic terrorist, might as touch network.

Other people who oppose Donald Trump, that is what this regime is doing. That is what they are building. And to your point, Popac, that's why it shouldn't matter if you're a US citizen, if you are an asylum seeker, if you are here as a migrant. The Trump regime lumps anybody who doesn't like Donald Trump into a category as the enemy from within. And Donald Trump's friends, going back to how we started, are on that board of authoritarians that he calls the board the board of peace. And Donald Trump hates people who support democracy, who want peace, who just want to go about their lives. So that's a perfect pivot for us to talk about Don Lemon, the arrests of uh others who were involved in these protests at the church in St. Paul and to talk about what went down this morning where border patrol and sometimes it's hard to distinguish the ICE and the Border Patrol. Um you have the guy Lions who runs ICE. Um, and

then you have Tom Hman, who's a uh ZAR, like a border zar. And at the very top of this, you have Christy Gnome, who runs Department of Homeland Security, which both ICE and Border Patrol report to. And then Border Patrol, you have that Greg Bevino guy. Really, that sick guy who wears that trench coat that Gavin Newsome said it's like the SS trench coat. That's the guy who just goes there and he personally like gasses the people himself wearing that trench coat. I mean, like literally looks like the manifestation of evil, but the border patrol was the one who shot uh this individual uh earlier earlier in the day. So, I want to talk all about that. I want to talk about what's happening at the Supreme Court as it relates to the oral arguments by Lisa Cook, one of the governors on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Um, but we should also just be very clear in the Supreme Court granting Donald Trump

absolute immunity, which was the ultimate betrayal of our Constitution, the Supreme Court has enabled this. So when we talk about the oral arguments of Lisa Cook, we'll talk about how Justice Kavanaaugh, one of the right-wing Supreme Court justices appointed by Donald Trump, uh while he was asking his questions of uh John Sauer, Donald Trump's solicitor general during the oral arguments, Kavanaaugh seemed to like have this epiphany like this oopsy, if we allow Donald Trump to do this, then couldn't a Democratic president do this? We'll talk about that and more, but let's take our first quick break of the show. A reminder, make sure you check out Michael Pop's YouTube channel, Legal AF on YouTube, wherever you uh are right now on YouTube to search Legal AF.

Make sure you subscribe subscribe to Popox Substack, the Legal AF Substack, which is absolutely crushing it. Great work there on the on building up that that thriving Substack, uh, POPAC. And then if you or someone you know has been injured in a car accident or a trucking accident, injured by the negligence of others, medical malpractice injuries, if you know someone who's the victim in a wrongful death case and you're speaking with their family, just reach out to the POPAC firm. Call or text 877 POPA AF. Call or text 877 pop af or go to the popfirm.com.

The popfirm.com. Let's take our first quick break of the show. We'll be right back to discuss more.

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physically attack and physically block women from going into the clinics and seeking reproductive health services. Now, in the '9s, in order to get this bill passed on a bipartisan basis, there was a provision that basically said also the same rules apply in churches to get Republican votes. Um, and so the idea would be if you physically assaulted somebody from getting into a church or you went into a church and physically threatened somebody, uh, the way people have been doing at reproductive health centers, that the same law applies. So there were people who show up at St.

Paul at this church in St. Paul uh because allegedly one of the leaders of the church, someone connected with the leadership of the church as part of ICE and was inflicting this terror and pain on the community. So a protest was held uh and Don Lemon, journalist, independent reporter, friend of mine, was at my wedding. I know I know Don very well. Um, great reporter was there. Popac was at my wedding, too. He was hanging out with Don Lemon there. To full disclosure,

full disclosure, Pop, Don Lemon, all all at my wedding. Um, and uh, and Don Lemon was reporting on it. There was one moment where uh, one of the church leaders touched Don Lemon and Lemon's like, "Don't touch me. I'm not I'm here to ask you questions. I don't want touching." U, and Lemon streamed the whole thing. So, there's no ambiguity in what's taking place. The whole thing was uh videotaped. Prosecutors wanted to go after all of them. Uh they they got they didn't go get an indictment. They got a criminal complaint, but Pope against the other protesters. They tried against Lemon, but the magistrate wouldn't sign off on it. Um the leader of the protest is someone by the name of Nikima Armstrong.

She is a former leader of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP. She's a civil rights lawyer in her own right and she was one of the people who were arrested and then the Department of Justice manipulated the image of her. Here's the here's the image that Christy Gnome uh posted which is still incredibly inappropriate to post this image. Um there's an image of Christine Gnome posting it. And then the White House account posted an image that they did artificial intelligence on where they made uh Nikima um have darker skin and made her cry uh and said arrested far-left agitator Nikima Levy Armstrong arrested for orchestrating church riots in Minnesota.

That's what the White House did, which will obviously now come into play in her prosecution because she'll talk about vindictive prosecution. the same way we've been talking about that with the Abrao Garcia case where federal courts have found vindictiveness. Popach, why don't you take it all?

Yeah, I mean, as I as I said at a at a break um at our commercial break, the impeachment proceedings can't start quick enough for me after the Democrats hopefully take back the House and the Senate. So many people will will be um impeached, much like the Nixon administration for what they're doing. And I see, you know, my crystal ball sees Pam Bondi and Todd Blanch, Amil Boie hiding out at the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. once um a Donald Trump henchman within the Department of Justice um and Christine Nome um the list the list you know the press secretary and no one no one will be safe from the long arm of a impartial department of justice and a Congress controlled by the Democrats or the long arm and the long reach of history. Um, so we're using that as a backdrop.

You've got peaceful first amendment protests. And sometimes in our soc in our society, the I said this on a video recently, the let's just take the 10 amendments, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, they don't operate in a silo. They're not pistons that are separated and go up and down like an engine. There are times when there's friction between them and there's collisions between them. Sometimes the first amendment, the fourth amendment there's collisions. Sometime between the fourth amendment and the fifth amendment or first amendment there's collisions and it's and frictions and that's that was intended. Okay. And that's it's for federal judges again back to our thematic on this show and every show.

It's back to federal judges and the people that work for them like magistrate judges to sort this out especially when you have a lawless presidency. So sometimes the right of worship under the first amendment um and and freedom of worship against government intrusion or invasion runs up against people who protest your worshiping or somebody in your congregation or whatever whatever was the the the uh the leadin to a group of activists deciding to to go into this St. Paul church, the city's church in St. Paul and protest and led by people who are um who often get into what we call good trouble including Nikima Armstrong and William Kelly and Shantiel Allen and Don Lemon accompanied them. He does a lot of live streaming. He does it on Substack.

He does it on his his his YouTube channel and he was there as a reporter. In fact, he was he was interviewing people like parishioners coming out and one of them in particular, I just use it in my own hot take. One of them said, "Ah, I was just worshiping and then you people showed up and he goes, "I'm not you people. I I'm just here. I'm I'm reporting on this. You know, I accompanied them and we've got cameras here as a result." Well, for the Trump administration, it was a a they they they are for a Trump Department of Justice and Civil Rights Division that is completely blind to the civil rights violations and deprivations that occurred when Renee Good was murdered by an ICE agent and then within a minute of it occurring already declared uh that the ICE agent was innocent and had committed only self-defense and there would be no investigation. Now, oh ho, some sort of protest happens on church

grounds AND IT'S LIKE, WHOA, we need to do a civil rights investigation and criminal investigations and and arrest all these protesters. So, they, as they often do, they went in with what's called a criminal complaint that is prepared by the prosecutor, but they can't they can't use that to get an arrest warrant. They have to go into a federal judge, as we talked about at the top of the show. This is an immigration court, you know, where they get the benefit of their own judge issuing arrest warrants, uh, or pieces of paper that look like arrest warrants. They got to go to a federal judge. Now, a criminal complaint is sort of a placeholder until they can get around to having a grand jury of peers if they can indict these people and they can arrest off a criminal complaint, but it can't be it can't only be a criminal complaint. It has to be replaced at some point by a real indictment. For

instance, when Hannah Dugan, the the judge in Milwaukee, was arrested for obstructing the use of an I205 administrative arrest warrant, picking somebody up in her courtroom or near her courtroom. She was first held on a on a criminal complaint that was eventually endorsed, if you will, by a federal judge. An arrest warrant was issued. Then it was replaced by a grand jury indictment. But of course, she got convicted of a couple of things in court. Here, that's how a criminal complaint works. So, they got a criminal complaint against a couple of these people. We just talked about uh the ones that that were arrested, including um Nikima Armstrong.

And no, the Department of Justice uh is not is supposed to be neutral is as the people's prosecutor. And they're not supposed to be posting AI jinned up photos, racially charged photos of of uh the people who are innocent until proven guilty. uh and this out of this Department of Justice as a weapon, as a tool of Donald Trump on full display once again with yet another perp um which will come up to the judge eventually if this indictment, a future indictment sticks about um about a jury selection process and prejudice and bias. But so they were arrested.

Subsequently, a federal judge found that most of them should not be held without bail and released them to their own recgnissance or after a bond or bail hearing. Pam Bondi did not like that the magistrate judge and then the federal judge would not in uh sign off on the criminal complaint for Don Lemon. Don Lemon, a journalist, a First Amendment chronicler of what was happening during the uh protest, not a riot at the church, a protest at the church. Okay? I never I never saw people come out of a riot and and calmly be interviewed by a reporter, which is what you can see in in clip after clip after clip of Don Lemon's reporting. So, of course, the the m the magistrate judge and ultimately the federal judge was like, "No, there's a little thing called the first amendment. This is journalism.

This isn't protest. You may not like it, but this is no different than if if a journalist had been on the Pettit Bridge in in Selma, Alabama, you know, while peaceful protesters were being beaten to with an inch of their life, you know, by um the Alabama local police who were trying to peacefully march about uh the civil rights movement. If there had been a rep, if Don Lemon had been there, you know, with technology at the time with his with his pad, he doesn't get arrested because he's chronicling what's happening under the First Amendment and freedom of the press. So Pam Bonnie didn't like that. Okay. So rather than put on her big girl pants and go get an indictment if you think you can get it from a Minnesota grand jury or St. grand jury. She went instead to try to um in this theatrical move go to the eighth circuit court of appeals to try to get a writ of mandamus which is an order for a

federal officer or officer to do something that they're not doing. Except this isn't like you know a ministerial act like sign the the document. This is a magistrate judge using their powers to determine under their abuse of discretion standard whether whether the government has met a burden or not on probable cause and finding that they hadn't. She didn't like it. Ran to the eighth circuit. The eighth circuit slammed her in a newly released there it is. The government here look at the language from the eighth circuit chief judge. The government lumps all eight protesters together and say the things that are are true of some but not all of them. Five. Two of the five were not even protesters. They were journalists.

That's Don Lemon and his producer. There's no evidence that these two engaged in any criminal behavior or conspired to do so. And so, no, we're not going to force the magistrate judge based on your skimpy scant evidence in violation of the First Amendment that that didn't make it. Now, what can she do? She can go try to empaddle if it's not up up and running already with Lord knows who because the US attorney walked out 10 days ago along with all the leadership in Minnesota, whoever she can find there to go and panel another grand jury to get Don Lemon indicted. I'm not I'm not suggesting that should happen or will happen, but that's what she would have to do next if she doesn't like what's just happened with the criminal complaint process. Don Lemon has great counsel. Somebody that you and I talk about so many times that you think he's part of the show. Abby Lel. Abby Lel is representing Lisa Cook, the board of

governors of the Federal Reserves, representing Leticia James, the New York Attorney General, and many other people who have gotten on Donald Trump's vindictive and retribution uh vindictive prosecution and retribution list. one of the handful of lawyers and law firms that are standing up every day against the Trump administration and making it a uh their practice area of representing people who are targeted by the Trump administration. So, you know, he's in great hands. I'm sure Aby's ready and local council's ready to whatever happens next as he continues to do his job as a journalist.

Yeah. You know, and then of course Donald Trump making it so much worse today after the horrific shooting of the individual who by all accounts and based on all the information we now know had the right to conceal carry, had the right to carry a firearm as a result of the Second Amendment. Uh, right. That's what we always have heard. um in the state of Minnesota, absolute right to have a gun holstered where the gun was holstered. And by all accounts, what it looks like it happened, these eight Border Patrol thugs started pepper- spraying the guy, kicking him, beating him, took the gun out of the holster aggressively. Um, threw the guy to the ground, started beating him, and then shot him repeatedly, 10 times, maybe more. Shot, shot, shot, shot, shot. when that individual had every right to be doing what he was doing and then you get a statement out from the Trump regime.

And the statement that Donald Trump posted earlier today is this is the gunman's gun loaded with two additional full magazines and ready to go. What is that all about? Where are the local police? Why aren't they allowed to protect ICE officers? The mayor and the governor called them off. It is stated that many of these police were not allowed to do their job, that ICE had to protect themselves. Not an easy thing to do. Why does Elon Omar have $34 million in her account? And where are the tens of billions of dollars that have been stolen from the once great state of Minnesota? We are there because of massive monetary fraud with billions of dollars missing and illegal criminals allowed to infiltrate the state through Democrats open border policies. We want our money back and we want our money back now. Those fraudsters who stole the money are going to jail. The mayor and the governor are inciting

and we're going to shoot and kill people who are The mayor and the governor are inciting insurrection with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric. Let our ICE patriots do their job. 12,000 illegal alien criminals have been arrested and taken out of Minnesota. If they were still there, you would be witnessing much worse than what you're witnessing today. Then he posts again. Among other things, this is a cover up for the billions of dollars that have been stolen from the once great state, but soon to be great again in Minnesota. I mean, look, Donald Trump has invaded American cities, American towns, American states. An invasion with a paramilitary force.

I would say no different than what you see in Putin's Russia or in Iran or in other authoritarian regimes, but frankly, it may be worse what what you're seeing. It it's at that level for sure. But America is under attack by a psychotic madman who wakes up and goes, "I'm going to tariff Canada today because I don't like Canada today and I'm going to call Carney the governor and I'm going to go after Greenland and just start posting photographs of me walking with penguins taking over Greenland." Aren't I funny? No. You are a psychotic madman criminal felon. You were found civily liable for sexual abuse. You are a disgusting piece of trash. And we all should just be outraged about Trump and this entire regime. And when he goes, "What's that all about?" It's about the Second Amendment, the thing that you've weaponized and used for political tools in ways that actually have led to massive school shootings taking place

where our children and parents are afraid to send their kids to schools. Cuz you say that, you know, anybody can basically have these semi-automatic weapons by schools. That's what the Second Amendment says. But really, when someone is actually with a concealed carry, has the weapon how they're supposed to have it, then you send your Gustapo to pepper spray him and kill him. That's how that's how they use it. But that's how they use everything, right? They use the Second Amendment to allow school shootings and prevent the Second Amendment how it's supposed to be used, right? Think about any topic that they do. Yeah. their states rights when it comes to violations of the constitutions, but then they'll send the federal government to trample and tread on states and take it over and totally ignore uh the the 10th amendment. You know, they'll say, "Oh, we're for the First Amendment. Uh we're absolutists

because they want to use the First Amendment to incite insurrections." But then when people invoke the First Amendment to peacefully protest, this regime goes, "Oh, you are a bunch of domestic terrorists. Their words are not just meaningless. Their words are the words of authoritarians who want absolute power and to rip apart our democracy. Stop using language that these are normal political times. They are not. When we come back, I want to talk about Lisa Cook's oral argument before the Supreme Court, Jack Smith's testimony, um, as well, you know, because when when you look at what's taking place even at the Supreme Court and what's taking place in Congress and what's actually happening on the streets of our country, I mean, you can see that what's we're not in a constitutional crisis. We are well past that constitutional crisis. There's an authoritarian regime right now that's ripped apart the Constitution and the

question becomes what are we going to do about that? How are we going to stand up for our rights? Reminder, subscribe to the Legal AF Substack and Legal AF YouTube channel by Michael Popac. He's got a lot of other great contributors as well. Make sure you subscribe there. In addition, if you or someone you know has been injured in a car accident, trucking accident, injured by the negligence of a third party or corporation or somebody, if you know someone who's the victim in a wrongful death case and you're speaking with their families, do the same thing. Text 877 POPAC AF or call 877 pop af or go to the popfirm.com.

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Please support our show and tell them that we sent you. Again, that's up to 30% off with code legal af onkin.co/legalaf. Welcome back to legal af. Thank you to our pro-democracy sponsors. You know, as I take a step back and try to cool off a little bit after that commercial break, you know, there are so many of these episodes, Popac, where I know we're we're we're living in a history that I so hope one day, you know, as I see my little girl and you and I talk about our our our little girls all the time, I so hope that this is a moment in history that we're able to stop and we've built this network. We built this show. We we've built out other people's platforms. We've inspired other independent journalists to start doing this type of work. when we saw corporate news capitulating to be useful using our legal skills and background and professional experiences you know during during this time and

just by way of reference in terms of my background here you know for a number of years I was basically living in Bakersfield in Fresno at the Truckton Marriott uh when Bakersfield police department had the highest police shooting deaths per capita anywhere in the country and They had police officers who were dealing the drugs on the street and killing their own confidential informants like Jorge Ramirez whose family I represented and then blaming the informants and claiming the informants were actually trying to kill the police officers and you know we uncovered that there was a massive drug operation within Bakersfield Police Department. They were selling the drugs on the street, keeping informants off the book, cutting dirty deals, and you know, you had a very traumatized community. It's it's not to suggest that it's gotten much better now, but they've had to have massive reforms as a result

of a lot of the work we we did there, you know, and then having represented Colin Kaepernick who peacefully protested and who lost his career after peacefully protesting, you know, often times I would hear people say, well, why does he have to do that protest at the stadium? We we just want to watch football. Why do these protesters have to do the protests in the church? The whole point of protests is that it makes us feel uncomfortable. It is a protest. That is the point of protest. It it is about making people feel uncomfortable because if you feel uncomfortable during that protest, you should reflect on how the individual who was just killed felt.

They're dead. You should reflect on what it must feel like to be someone who's black or brown who's being racially profiled and targeted when they leave their house. So yeah, the protest makes you feel uncomfortable having ICE and Border Patrol Gustapo or terroristic thug feds going after people who are not actually carrying out law and order who are actually attacking also police from doing good police from doing good functioning. Yeah, that's what makes people uncomfortable. So that's the nature of our country. the very nature of our country. When we think about Martin Luther King and reflecting on Martin Luther King Jr. Day earlier this week and we reflect on a history of protest, that's what actually our country is about. So when I watch these videos and I see, you know, ICE and Border Patrol Gustapo throwing gas at people and attacking people for for protesting. And by the way, you well,

why do they have to yell at the get out ICE, f you ICE? That's exactly within your First Amendment right. Would I go out there and throw fbombs around? And that's not my style of protest. I I I don't like to curse on this show. I don't I don't like cursing in general. It's not my That's not how But we have a First Amendment saying, "F ICE. F you. Get out of my town. F you. F you." I understand why people who are being tortured and terrorized would be saying that. that doesn't give ICE and Border Patrol the right to start gassing and attacking people and beating people and killing people.

What are we talking about here? This is our Constitution. And I just want us all to reflect on that. Now, I want to toss it over to you, Pope Pacus. What we should talk about is two things. Number one, Supreme Court oral argument. Lisa Cook, Lisa Cook, Governor, Federal Reserve, Board of Governors. You could talk about a little bit of the procedural history of how it got there. Notably, to me, it was Justice Kavanagh's questioning, but some other right-wing justices as well who had this uhoh moment where they're like, "But Donald," to Dutch Trump solicitor general, "If we do this for you, doesn't that mean that everybody else can then do this when there's a Democrat in office? So, aren't we opening up the floodgates for the future?" And then uh talk about special counsel Jack Smith's testimony. A and and I think the Supreme Court was also channeling this. You know, Donald Trump's attempt to

unlawfully gerrymander the country and do this mid decade redistricting. And he started in Texas, they didn't do it by way of referendum, just have the legislators give five seats. Well, in California, they did it by referendum. Um the people of California voted. California picked up five seats. And then when Democrats asserted themselves across the country based on the latest data, it seems that the Democrats may have won the mid decade redistricting. So Trump's gerrymandering may actually be dummy mandering. And Trump's gerrymandering even in Texas may result in losing seats in Texas, not just in addition to the net gains of Democrats like leaders, courageous Democratic leaders in Virginia's Senate and House. And now the fact that they have the trifecta with Spamberger becoming Governor Spamberger in Virginia, there could be pickups there and and it's possible now they lose seats in Texas as well because So I

think what Kavanaaugh is almost channeling there, Popach, as you take these two topics together, Supreme Court and Jack Smith was like, you're not foreseeing the end consequences of all of this as well. The same way I think people were warning Trump about the gerrymandering, but Trump, I guess, thought that Democrats would not assert themselves and show their formal and moral authority. What do you make of it?

All right, let's start at the United States Supreme Court. I think um I'll gloss over the tit fortat and the tick- tock of the oral argument because for me the more important thing was oh the next decision that the Supreme Court's going to make on tariffs and I think the writing is on the wall that Donald Trump is likely in the throws of a epic um historic set of losses at the Supreme Court. I'm glad we're finally able to do that. He's going to lose on the Lisa Cook lack of due process, lack of for cause, lack of proper record developed by the trial court below issue that was before the United States Supreme Court as I had predicted before at the time of the election when John Sauer was chosen to be Donald Trump's solicitor general that his well-worn shtick would wear out and that he would eventually wear on the nerves of even the ultrarightwing on the Supreme Court with his um hyperbolic,

hyperactive um just this um valuable constant prolicks, you know, 50 pounds of argument in a 10 and a 10 pound sack approach to everything. He knows and thinks he's the smartest guy in the room. He's got some sort of weird um photographic memory about cases. He never he never capitulates. He never concedes even when his credibility is at stake. And he's gotten on the wrong side of of a number of judges in the half a dozen oral arguments that he's made. Um because what once was an interesting advocacy style when he was doing the immunity oral argument and the Colorado um insurrectionist ballot case to help Donald Trump stay on the ballot and get presidential immunity for all the crimes that he committed that Jack Smith was pursuing sort of has grown tiresome. And so what we heard during the oral argument was that he's completely lost at least for that case any credibility.

I mean when Sam Alto, if you don't have Sam Alto for Donald Trump, you're about done. When Sam Alo said, why did everybody rush here so quickly? Why is there not a properly developed record on this issue about the firing of a board of governor, Dr. Lisa Cook, um on the on the Federal Reserve? Is there even in in the record her actual mortgage documents that are allegedly the basis for the four cause that Donald Trump used to fire her? And then you heard you heard John Sauer have to scramble and say, "Well, I think the snapshot of the of the of the picture of the tweet and the social media post from like are you kidding me? The snapshot of the photo of the social media post? That's not evidence. That's not the record. So, here's what's going to happen. It's either going to be 81, 90, or 7-2. But Donald Trump's losing. Uh he he Kavanaaugh is not going to vote with him. Gorsuch isn't. Amy Coney Barrett's

not. I'll mention something about Amy Coney Barrett and the tariffs in a moment. Uh Roberts is not going to. I don't think Alo is. Um and the only one that was sort of he couldn't figure out as always is Clarence Thomas. But he'll either see the writing on the wall and decide he better go 90 on this one because the only issue really before them was was there is due process something that has to be given to somebody on the board of governors and what does that due process look like kind of hearing who who decides see for the Trump administration it's always you can't review anything the president does he decides on if there's four cause it can't be challenged at one point John Roberts was like why are we even here based on that argument You're telling me I don't have the power as the Supreme Court on the Supreme Court to reinstate or or to take in or out a a uh an officer that's fired by the president?

See, this is just the ludicr of John Sauer taken to its extreme. It's another version of the could Seal Team Six be ordered to take out a political rival by the president and have that be okay under immunity. And rather than saying no, THAT THAT WOULD BE WELL under that scenario. Oh, it's never been litigated before. Like, oh my god. So, um, they're going to they're going to send it back to Gia Cook, who's the sorry, Gia Cobb, who's the, uh, Biden appointed federal judge who handled the case below, and they're going to give her instructions.

They're going to say she gets due process, Lisa Cook, because it's a fifth amendment right, and she's looking at a 13 more years left on her term. And no, you so you're going to have to give her due process and you're going to have to figure out what that should look like. Give her a hearing. Let there be evidence. Let there be let there be testimony. Figure that out. Then you determine whether there's four costs, whether the president's assertion that this mortgage fraud not fraud thing about her having two loans, both primary for or both uh declaring first that they're her primary residence in Michigan and Atlanta are is is the type of fraud that that we that we would in expect to lead to her dismissal.

Not the president gets to pick anything he wants. I want to like the the color of your tie, J. Powell. You get to go. So, they're going to send it back and she's going to stay in her chair in the meantime because the issue that was up on the appeal was a narrow one about whether they were going to grant Donald Trump a stay to block the appellet court 2:1 decision that kept her in her chair. And they're like, they're going to let her be in there. So, they're going to let Lisa Cook stay in her seat and Trump fight to get her out as opposed to Lisa Cook out. and uh and and fighting to get back in, which is which is good because it'll at least keep the Federal Reser reserve independent and in the control of non-Trump appointees from now until Jay Pal steps off in 2028. Um not when he steps off in May as the chair. But for me, I'm I was looking for tea leaves about the tariff decision, which would

be sort of one of the final nails in Donald Trump's coffin with the American people. If he has to if all the tariffs that he's been using to troll Americans and tax them and troll our allies and enemies and troll the middle powers, as Prime Minister Carney calls them, which is Canada and Europe, with, "Oh, I don't like what you did. you embarrass me in Davos, uh, Prime Minister Carney, so I'm going to put a 200% tariff on everything Canadian or uh, or 100% or 200% on French wine because I didn't like Macron and what he said. And this is the very reason you take this toy away from this toddler because he doesn't have it constitutionally nor by statute. So, at one point Amy Coney Barrett said to um uh John Sauer, "Look, we got a lot of briefs here from economists, former Federal Reserve governors, central bankers, and they're all saying it'll be a disaster. It'll be a recession. It'll be a economic catastrophe if the

independence of the Federal Reserve um is compromised by Donald Trump firing Lisa Cook." And then of course John Sour said,"Well, if you look at the record, you know, and the stock market went up two days in a row and all outside the record, by the way." And she stopped him and she says, "You know, I'm not an economist. I'm just a judge." And for me, I think tying that back together again to Amy Coney Barrett in the tariff hearing saying to the lawyer advocating for the for the defeat of the tariffs, saying, "Suppose we rule in your favor.

How hard would it be to refund? I think Amy Coney Barrett, which with Kavanaaugh often is in the majority. It's it's becoming like this Kavanaaugh Amy Coney Barrett thing in terms of majority opinions whether we like them or not. I think this is they're going to get this gang back together. Not 81, not 7 to2, but I see at least now a six to three, maybe five to four against the tariffs. Now that that may not come out until June. Now, some people are waiting and they're biting their nails every time there's an announcement of a new Supreme Court decision being dropped. Like, oh, is it today? No, it's not going to be anytime soon. They don't do major decision r occasionally they do major decisions, you know, like Tik Tok ban, which we're not talking about today. You know, they 27 days after the hearing, they issued their they issued their decision. But in major decisions, they normally wait because of how complex

these decisions are to write in the concurrences and the and the um and the descents and everything holds it up. So, it's really like a March, April, May, June event. And for people that thought, well, but look at all the money that's piling up. That must weigh on their minds. You can see from Amy Coney Barrett saying, "I'm not an economist. I'm just a judge." They don't care whether Donald Trump has to repay $150 billion or $300 billion. They don't care that it's running. If they find that he illegally did it and it has to be paid back, they figure the government can figure out how to pay back $300 billion back to the importers and businesses.

The problem is they're not going to pay that money back to the Americans who have already been taxed along the way. It's not going to them. It's going to the companies unless the companies are like, "Hey everybody, 20% off all our goods for the next six months because we got our refund." Not happening. So, the people that got screwed and crushed once again were the American people. So, you have that going on. Um, and and it doesn't make up I don't want people to think because we're going to get a couple of rulings probably against the Trump administration on major issues that it makes up for it doesn't make up for anything. doesn't make up for all the ways from the immunity decision to the taking away of a woman's right to choose to constitutional, you know, civil rights being being uh uh destroyed to the relationship between the presidency and the other two branches being completely upended. doesn't change

any of that. But we're going to call it like we see it about things that will be good for us in that the tariffs will be destroyed likely before the midterms and his attempt to take over the and and and uh uh take over the independence of the Federal Reserve, which isn't just an esoteric theory like or an esoteric academic thing. Oh, that's interesting. He took over the Federal Reserve. He takes over the Federal Reserve. He takes over the open markets committee. He takes over interest rates. Then whatever you're paying now at the supermarket, double it. Because when he lowers interest rates to 1% and floods the market with a fire hose of free money, all it's going to happen, as even his own people have said out loud, is hyper hyper hyperinflation, right? It'll be a shortterm drug that he tries to inject into the arm of the American people before the midterms.

Look what I did. You can borrow money now cheaper to a long-term disaster that'll leave behind the smoking carcage carnage and and carcass of America's economy in his wake. And that's what we're trying so hard to avoid. Another, by the way, Abby Lowel special with representing Lisa Cook in that case. Then we contrast that. That's why it's been a terrible week for Donald Trump. Comes home a shrunken, defeated, broken man as as Mark Carney, prime minister of Canada and the Europeans take Donald Trump like a baseball bat and break break him over their knee. Is that is that what that's what happened? Comes back defeated and deflated to what? To Americans being shot on the streets of Minnesota to federal judges opposing him on a regular basis. And now you've got his big ballroom, which we're just going to touch on. The ballroom looks like it's in jeopardy because a federal judge is like, "No, I'm not going to allow you

to continue to build the ballroom without congressional approval. You run Congress, go get the approval." He's he's got all that going on. But then Jack Smith is back in his and you and we all saw the reasons that we loved knowing that Jack Smith was the people's prosecutor. dispassionate independent impartial apolitical, just against all odds, against his own his own I mean attacks on him while the hearing was going on from within the White House, calling him deranged, saying he should be in jail, saying, you know, he he expects to be prosecuted as a result, but reminding the American people that that Donald Trump should be a convicted felon and that he committed crimes beyond a reasonable a doubt and that shows the power of our government in the proper hands in this case the Democrats uh doing their thing and the one takeaway from the Jack Smith presentation that I'll leave I'll leave this this segment

on is that at no time and you can watch all seven hours of it you got it up on Midas we have it up on legal layoff you can watch it cover to cover and you never hear the Republicans never hear the Republicans defend and Donald Trump prove with evidence that he did not commit the crimes for which he was prosecuted and indicted ever. It's always about the tactics and strategy that Jack Smith used. It's always about, oh, you wiretapped. Oh, why did you do you were and then just talking points just just leading questions that they didn't care about the answer so that it would make the the evening news you know about about you're just doing uh you know going after uh the enemies of uh of Joe Biden weren't you? No. uh you just ridiculous questions that had no he when he responded they didn't care about the response you know they just wanted the theatrics of the moment but at no time did they defend Donald Trump or what he

did on Jan 6 and beyond nor could they and yet you're left with Jack Smith talking to the American people at the same time we've got because Donald Trump wants to distract from what's happening poorly for him this week got that lawsuit filed against Jamie Diamond. We have a hot take up on that. And City and uh Cha JP Morgan Chase because he got debanked. He got debanked because he's a he's a fraudster because he was a judge to be a fraudster because he got 55 or 60 indictments against him because he um had his companies get a criminal conviction that was never expuned in New York. that that's why he got deb and he had an $8 million loan through a Russian connection with a bank offshore into truth social that nobody knows why or how it happened. That's why you get debanked. But that happened and then he runs down to Judge Cannon while he still got Canon to argue that she should issue an injunction against the future

department of justice. Not even now's Department of Justice, the future one preliminarily enjoy permanently enjoining them from ever releasing the Mara Lago um report. It will be the first time in history that a special counsel or special prosecutor independent prosecutors body of work was not given to the American people either both through testimony and through the release of the report. It would be the first time in history and now he's trying to get a judge now because he's got the numbers to try to bind a future department of justice from ever releasing that Mara Lago uh report because he doesn't want the American people to know what he did in obstruction of justice in espionage act um at all. And so he he filed and I'll just leave it at this. He filed it. Talk about this unethical unholy revolving door. The woman he used to send a note to to Eileen can alen Cannon had just been in his department of

justice as an assistant deputy attorney general with working with Todd Blanch. Before that she was working with Todd Blanch and Amil Boie as Donald Trump's Mara Lago lawyers down in Florida. She then went into the government as ethics council and responsible for things like the inspector's general. Then she came back out and is now back representing Donald Trump criminally. And then you had this pitch and catch where she filed a note to to Judge Cannon asking her not to ever release the Mara Lago report and and make sure no other Department of Justice in history ever does. And two days later, Donald Trump's Department of Justice says, "Yeah, we agree with that.

It should be in the dust bin of history. Nobody should ever see this. And there's nobody on the other side to oppose it because the judge is keeping out the interveners who would be the only ones to have a contrary view like first amendment groups like the Knight Institute and American Oversight. This is all heading back to the 11th Circuit about whether whether she can permanently block the release of and issue that order and have the power. One last thing. We watched Epstein judges with much um with much heartbreak or bittersweet approach tell the survivors that they don't have the power if because in these closed criminal cases to issue orders to force the um Epstein files to be released through a special master or or independent monitor. We just had Judge Burman literally post in his in his docket a note, a handwritten note on his stationary to one of the survivors saying, "I I appreciate you

writing to me. It it was very moving. I don't have the power. The case is closed." Judge Angel Meer did it with an order which he cited to one of my clients, Lisa Phillips. Judge Cannon, she got a closed criminal case. She got no problem. She's open for business. Oh, Donald Trump, why don't you file something? and Department of Justice under Donald Trump. Why don't you file something and uh and no, we can't hear from anybody else, but I'm open for business on these rulings about why aren't you closed? Why isn't your case closed since the defendants have been dismissed and so has Donald Trump? No, because we're in the world, the upside down world of Alien Cannon. So now you and I have to follow what's going to happen next at the 11th Circuit. How did I do? Did I tie all that together?

You tied it all together brilliantly. And look, the the the point you make also is that our system probably needs to be rethought at a completely entire holistic level cuz it's built on the fact that the DOJ and the prosecutors and the Department of Justice are the good guys and that the criminal defendants who are presumed innocent until proven guilty though are on the other side of it and that there is an adversarial nature of the relationship. But what happens when that line between prosecutor and criminal defendant is removed and you basically are now playing for the same team? What happens when you have a basketball game, for example, and the teams are not going against each other, but they're all shooting at the same hoop? At some point, the audience is like, "Why am I watching this? What what what is this?

Aren't you supposed to like play against each other?" And I'm giving a crude broader example, but we see this problem now playing out where there's a structural flaw in our system where the prosecution is the criminal bad guy. When they are the criminals, what what do you do? Because as Judge Burman and as Judge Angel Meer have recognized, we appreciate people trying to intervene, but we kind of depend on the Justice Department and a party making the motion and asking us to do something and no one from the outside can can ask us to to do it. So what what can we do when the only people who have standing is the DOJ and is the criminal uh you know is the criminal defendant in a case. Similarly, when you talk about um you know when you talk about you know with with Judge Cannon though um what do you do when you have Trump's DOJ the prosecutors working with Trump the criminal defendant and representing

those interests against the pro the former prosecutor special counsel Jack Smith and that there's no adversarial voice on the docket. So it now becomes a unanimous request to the judge, like a stipulation, and the judge is like, "Well, I guess all I have here is people telling me here's how I got to do it. So I guess I have to follow what the Justice Department's doing." Our founders didn't think about this, and our lawmakers didn't address this situation. And currently our sophantic supine Congress is uncap is incapable of dealing with it.

There's, as I've said, we're not in a constitutional crisis. We're past the constitutional crisis. We We are in Putin's Russia, Orban's Hungary, MBS's Saudi Arabia, the Ayatollah's Iran, Deli Rodriguez's Venezuela. That that's what exists now in the United States. And I'm not being hyperbolic. And I'm sick and tired of people who want to use all this other language to try to normalize sanewash what's happening right now. Okay, you there's no there's no giving ICE better training. Okay, they're a terrorist organization. You need to take away their funding. You need to shut them down. Border Patrol border. They're not supposed to be in the interior. The hell are they doing? Stop funding this stuff.

Defund them. Abolish them. You want to have them do what they were supposed to do originally, which is actually deal with the border and ICE deals with immigration enforcement. They ain't doing that. That's not what they're doing right now. They're Gustapo. They're SS. They're terrorizing this country. So, I'm sick and tired of anyone, regardless of their political party, well, shut up. It's not what we're dealing with right now. These are existential times. You either meet the moment or get the hell out of the way.

That's the times we're living in right now. Thank you everybody for watching. Hit subscribe. Help us get to six million subscribers here. More importantly, help the Legal AF channel get to 2 million subscribers. Subscribe to Legal AF on YouTube. Subscribe to Legal AF on Substack. Support the growth of Legal AF. Legal AF is, as you know, right now so critical, and its importance is only going to get more critical over the coming days, weeks, months, and years. Let's get Legal AF to 10 million subscribers by 2028. Also, make sure you if you or someone you know has been injured in a car accident, trucking accident, injured by the negligence of somebody else, if you know someone who's the victim in a wrongful death case or somebody else who may have a legal case and they say, "You know any lawyers, call POPAC 877 pop af or text 877 pop af or go to the popfirm.com."

The popfirm.com consultation is free with the popfirm. He's got lawyers in every state across the country here to help you out. So see if you have a case, reach out. Don't be shy. Pop's representing hundreds like like a huge amount of people who watch and listen are now clients of the Popac firm who have cases or who have referred a family member, a cousin, a friend, a neighbor. Hey, you have a case. I know Michael Popock. Give Popox firm a call. Seriously, don't be shy about it. The This is what the firm was built to do.

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Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "LIVE: Trump INVASION inside USA ESCALATES + SCOTUS HEARING | Legal AF"?

Michael Popock (Host), Ben Micellis (Host).

What is "LIVE: Trump INVASION inside USA ESCALATES + SCOTUS HEARING | Legal AF" about?

The discussion highlights the escalating enforcement actions by ICE and Border Patrol in Minnesota under the Trump administration, including violent incidents, child abductions, and controversial use of administrative warrants to bypass judicial oversight. Additionally, it examines the failed prosecution attempts against Don Lemon for his involvement in protests, revealing concerns about the…

What is mentioned in this MeidasTouch episode?

24 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Donald Trump, Fourth Amendment, Trump regime, ICE, Department of Justice, Don Lemon. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "LIVE: Trump INVASION inside USA ESCALATES + SCOTUS HEARING | Legal AF"?

The episode runs 1 h 23 min; the transcript is about 13,660 words in 100 timestamped sections.

More from MeidasTouch

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 25, 2026.