LIVE: Trump Issues SHOCK RESPONSE to MY REQUEST About THE FILES

What this episode is about

In this segment, Allison Gil reveals her exclusive reporting on the existence of training videos related to Epstein files, specifically how to redact Trump's name from them, which the FBI has made accessible without restrictions. She discusses the challenges faced in obtaining these materials through a Freedom of Information Act request and critiques the government's recent arguments against expedited processing for access to these videos, along with highlighting recent missteps by Trump's Department of Justice.

Key takeaways

• FBI's 'redacting Trump' training videos: a million-dollar overtime, locked in silence.
• Justice Department claims: no significant public interest in Epstein, 'integrity' shrinks.
• Midas Touch exclusive: FOIA battles reveal unspoken truths, vanish from mainstream radar.
• Epic DOJ foot-in-mouth: FBI email dump sparks smoldering investigative conundrum.
• Court vignette: media outlet debate turned accidental admission of reporting legitimacy.

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: expedited processing, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), The Breakdown, Information Management Division
2. 5:00 – 10:00: Summary judgment, expedited processing, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
3. 10:00 – 15:00: Abrego Garcia, General jurisdiction, removal order, scrivener's error
4. 15:00 – 20:00: Jim Comey, Leticia James, removal order, selective prosecution
5. 20:00 – 25:00: contempt, Anna Bower, Arez Reveni, Brady material
6. 25:00 – 29:50: approval rating, Eric Gizler, gerrymandered district, Indiana Senate

Notable quotes from "LIVE: Trump Issues SHOCK RESPONSE to MY REQUEST About THE FILES"

• Welcome to The Breakdown. I have an exclusive for you today. no mainstream media outlet is reporting on this, but if you watch the breakdown here on the Midas Touch Network every.

  about The Breakdown · at 0:02

• Couple of days ago, the government filed their response opposing my motion for expedited processing of my Freedom of Information Act request to get those videos. And you are not going to believe their argument against expedited processing.

  about expedited processing · at 1:23

• The DC district and back in September, she granted my unopposed motion for expedited briefing on summary judgement.

  about Summary judgment · at 4:13

• And it seems [clears throat] like Garcia and Massie are saying to reporters that there are actually extremely disturbing photographs that they have that involve minor children being.

  about Abrego Garcia · at 10:05

• As it turns out, there was never a removal order on the books. And you can't hold someone in detention unless you're in the process of deporting them and they have a removal order. You can't deport them without a removal order.

  about removal order · at 12:59

• Multiple reasons. The least of which is that immigration judge didn't have jurisdiction to do that because that immigration judge denied Mr. Abrego's motion to reopen his case…

  about General jurisdiction · at 14:07

• They filed a motion for a temporary restraining order blocking ICE from rearresting him. They pointed out the jurisdiction problem and then added quote even if the immigration judge had.

  about temporary restraining order · at 15:17

• [sighs] Let's move on to Judge Boseberg's series of extraordinary contempt. This week he had ordered the sworn testimony of whistleblower Arezz Reveni and Drew Ensign. Both of whom witnessed Emil Boove instruct Department of Justice.

  about contempt · at 22:18

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Jason Leupold — Person · 2 mentions · first at 0:55
  Won that and they conceded. which is nice, but corporate media still didn't report on that. Then Jason Leupold got those 76 pages of FBI emails pursuant to his own foyer request and we went over that here in the breakdown.
• Judge Barl How — Person · 2 mentions · first at 4:11
  Existence of these Epstein training videos that my sources told me about. My case was assigned to Judge Barl How in the DC district and back in September, she granted my unopposed motion for expedited briefing on summary judgement.
• Abrego Garcia — Person · 2 mentions · first at 10:05
• Leticia James — Person · 2 mentions · first at 17:13
  Administration this week. The broken, sad, flaccid Department of Justice decided to try and indict Leticia James again. Again, this is the second attempt at a reindictment, the fourth attempt at an indictment at all. And this is my.
• Jim Comey — Person · 2 mentions · first at 19:02
  Also this week, as if the dead horse that is the Jim Comey case were not dead enough, a judge just ordered all of the evidence at the core of prosecutor's case against Jim Comey to be returned to Daniel Richmond because, you guessed it,.
• Alan Dersowitz — Person · 2 mentions
• Kel McClanahan — Person · 1 mention · first at 6:25
  Decision. They did concede that I'm a member of the media here in a September 5th filing. Dear Kell McClanahan, that's my lawyer. you appealed on behalf of your client, MSW…
• Judge Cenis — Person · 1 mention · first at 12:48
  Everybody, this week we're starting to see a little bit of what I was talking about. First, Judge Cenis, a federal judge in Maryland, ordered the immediate release of Kilar Abrego Garcia. This is massive news.
• Kilar Abrego Garcia — Person · 1 mention · first at 12:53
  About. First, Judge Cenis, a federal judge in Maryland, ordered the immediate release of Kilar Abrego Garcia. This is massive news.
• Eric Cybert — Person · 1 mention · first at 17:41
  Donald Trump has tried to indict the New York Attorney General and failed. First when Eric Cybert refused to take the case to the grand jury. Then when Lindsey Halagan…
• Lindsey Halagan — Person · 1 mention · first at 17:45
  When Eric Cybert refused to take the case to the grand jury. Then when Lindsey Halagan fraudulent fraudulently tried to obtain an indictment as a private citizen and then last…
• Eric Swallwell — Person · 1 mention · first at 18:48
  Vindictive and selective prosecution motions, like if Adam Schiff is indicted or Eric Swallwell for mortgage fraud, Lisa Cook.
• Judge Kler Kotelli — Person · 1 mention · first at 19:25
  Warrant to rifle through his seized materials again to try to prosecute Jim Comey. In a 46-page opinion, Judge Kler Kotelli writes, quote, When [clears throat] the government…
• Anna Bower — Person · 1 mention · first at 20:14
  I think Anna Bower from Lawfair put it best. She said, Dan Richmond is a professor at Columbia Law School and a leading authority on criminal procedure.
• Monica Maccgyver — Person · 1 mention · first at 20:37
  Oh, here's here's something else no one else is talking about besides independent media. L Monica Maccgyver's case is about to hit the fan for the Department of Justice, and…
• Lam Monica Macyver — Person · 1 mention · first at 20:55
  Truth and it always comes back to bite them in the ass. Now, you'll recall New Jersey Congresswoman Lam Monica Macyver was arrested and charged for quote unquote assaulting an…
• Marcy Wheeler — Person · 1 mention · first at 21:30
  In fact, Marcy Wheeler posted at emptywheel.net, met quote DOJ was never going to turn over these discussions conducted on signal until Judge Seer ordered this supplemental briefing. They.
• Judge Seer — Person · 1 mention · first at 21:36
  Emptywheel.net, met quote DOJ was never going to turn over these discussions conducted on signal until Judge Seer ordered this supplemental briefing. They were sitting on…
• Chief Judge Boseberg — Person · 1 mention · first at 22:19
  [sighs] Let's move on to Judge Boseberg's series of extraordinary contempt. This week he had ordered the sworn testimony of whistleblower Arezz Reveni and Drew Ensign. Both of whom witnessed Emil.
• Arez Reveni — Person · 1 mention · first at 22:26
  Of extraordinary contempt. This week he had ordered the sworn testimony of whistleblower Arezz Reveni and Drew Ensign. Both of whom witnessed Emil Boove instruct Department of…
• Emil Boove — Person · 1 mention · first at 22:28
  Had ordered the sworn testimony of whistleblower Arezz Reveni and Drew Ensign. Both of whom witnessed Emil Boove instruct Department of Justice lawyers to tell the court to […
• Emile Boie — Person · 1 mention · first at 22:42
  The government did everything it could to stop that testimony and protect Emile Boie because sworn testimony from these two would confirm Boie lied in his confirmation hearing for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals when he said he.
• Christine Nome — Person · 1 mention · first at 23:03
  Now, Boseberg said those three scant declarations we talked about last week submitted by Christine Nome, Joseph Mazzara, and Todd Blanch, that were they were woefully short on information. So, Judge Booseberg scheduled Ruveni and Nine to.
• Joseph Mazzara — Person · 1 mention · first at 23:03
  Now, Boseberg said those three scant declarations we talked about last week submitted by Christine Nome, Joseph Mazzara, and Todd Blanch, that were they were woefully short on information. So, Judge Booseberg scheduled Ruveni and Nine to.
• Eileen Higgins — Person · 1 mention · first at 24:19
  Bonus, Trump was planning on building his presidential library in Miami, and new mayor Eileen Higgins doesn't seem too keen on that idea to give up public land. Now, Cuban…
• Eric Gizler — Person · 1 mention · first at 25:18
  Next up, Democrats flipped a house seat in Georgia that Trump won by double digits. Eric Gizler, I hope I'm pronouncing that properly. He's a Democrat who owns a local olive…
• Mack Dutch Guest — Person · 1 mention · first at 25:24
  Pronouncing that properly. He's a Democrat who owns a local olive oil store. defeated Republican Mack Dutch Guest in the 121st House District in the northeastern part of the…
• Emil Bove — Person · 1 mention
• LaMonica McIver — Person · 1 mention

Companies & orgs

• SharePoint — Company · 2 mentions · first at 1:09
  And wouldn't you know it, those emails prove that there are Epstein training videos placed on unclassified SharePoint drives with no restrictions placed upon people who could…
• Information Management Division — Company · 2 mentions · first at 1:17
  Drives with no restrictions placed upon people who could access them within the information management division, the IMD at the FBI. Now, a couple of days ago, the government…
• MSW Media, Inc. — Company · 2 mentions · first at 3:53
  Could file a Freedom of Information Act request, which then turned into a lawsuit filed by me, MSW Media, because I wanted to get those videos from the FBI. And recently, Jason…
• mishote.com — Company · 1 mention · first at 2:01
  So, this is exclusive. You're only going to see it here and on my Substack at mishote.com. We have all of that and more on today's episode of The Breakdown.
• DC district — Company · 1 mention · first at 4:13
  Videos that my sources told me about. My case was assigned to Judge Barl How in the DC district and back in September, she granted my unopposed motion for expedited briefing on summary judgement.
• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) — Company · 1 mention · first at 6:35
  Your client, MSW Media, Inc. from the fee category determination made by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on your client's Freedom of Information Act request. The FBI has…
• House Oversight Dems — Company · 1 mention · first at 9:02
  In other news about the Epstein matter, in which the public has no interest whatsoever, House Oversight Dems released another trove of Epstein files.
• Board of Immigration Appeals — Company · 1 mention · first at 14:19
  Immigration judge denied Mr. Abrego's motion to reopen his case for asylum and Abrego appealed to the board of immigration appeals BIA. And once you do that, the jurisdiction…
• Lawfair — Company · 1 mention · first at 20:14
  I think Anna Bower from Lawfair put it best. She said, Dan Richmond is a professor at Columbia Law School and a leading authority on criminal procedure.
• Columbia Law School — Company · 1 mention · first at 20:18
  I think Anna Bower from Lawfair put it best. She said, Dan Richmond is a professor at Columbia Law School and a leading authority on criminal procedure.
• emptywheel.net — Company · 1 mention · first at 21:32
  In fact, Marcy Wheeler posted at emptywheel.net, met quote DOJ was never going to turn over these discussions conducted on signal until Judge Seer ordered this supplemental briefing. They were sitting on evidence that shows that.
• Signal — Company · 1 mention · first at 21:36
  Emptywheel.net, met quote DOJ was never going to turn over these discussions conducted on signal until Judge Seer ordered this supplemental briefing. They were sitting on…
• Third Circuit Court of Appeals — Company · 1 mention · first at 22:50
  Boie because sworn testimony from these two would confirm Boie lied in his confirmation hearing for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals when he said he never instructed any lawyers to ignore court orders.
• Indiana Senate — Company · 1 mention · first at 26:35
  Have to get elected again enough to cause them to resign or revolt like they did in Indiana. The Indiana Senate this week voted no on Trump's redistricting map. And not because they didn't want a new map.
• Nazi party — Company · 1 mention · first at 27:43
  So, come to the America first side, which is another phrase used by the KKK and the Nazi party. But MS Now reported this week that Marjorie Taylor Green is plotting a Hail Mary…
• BIA — Company · 1 mention
• IMD — Company · 1 mention
• KKK — Company · 1 mention
• Lawfare — Company · 1 mention
• RIDs — Company · 1 mention

Concepts & topics

• The Breakdown — Concept · 6 mentions · first at 0:02
• Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) — Concept · 4 mentions · first at 0:35
  Now, I held on to that story for about 10 minutes so that I could file a Freedom of Information Act request to get those Epstein training videos. Now, they didn't agree at…
• expedited processing — Concept · 4 mentions · first at 1:29
• removal order — Concept · 4 mentions · first at 13:01
• Summary judgment — Concept · 3 mentions · first at 4:18
• General jurisdiction — Concept · 3 mentions · first at 14:11
• contempt — Concept · 3 mentions · first at 22:21
• scrivener's error — Concept · 2 mentions · first at 14:01
  Immigration judge who then issued a retroactive removal order correcting what they referred to as a scrivener's error.
• temporary restraining order — Concept · 2 mentions · first at 15:17
• selective prosecution — Concept · 2 mentions · first at 18:21
  Indictment, Leticia James will have a real good case for vindictive se and selective prosecution. And she'll have a very good reason to demand the grand jury tapes to see if there was malfeasants.
• Fourth Amendment — Concept · 2 mentions · first at 19:17
  Case against Jim Comey to be returned to Daniel Richmond because, you guessed it, the government violated his Fourth Amendment rights by failing to get a warrant to rifle…
• redaction — Concept · 1 mention · first at 2:51
  Instructing them on how to find and log and mark Trump's name and other information for redaction training videos mostly because the IMD generally doesn't redact for publication. It's usually a place called RIDs within the FBI which.
• partial summary judgement — Concept · 1 mention · first at 4:20
  So, we filed our motion for partial summary judgement and we asked for expedited processing of my foyer request because if there's widespread public interest or and a question about.
• grand jury records — Concept · 1 mention · first at 11:51
  And as I said, meanwhile, a federal judge in New York on Wednesday granted the DOJ's request to unseal grand jury records in Epstein's 2019 sex trafficking case. A different…
• Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41G — Concept · 1 mention · first at 19:53
  Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41G provides one such remedy. A court may order the government to return the files to their rightful owner. This case calls for that remedy.
• search warrant — Concept · 1 mention · first at 20:12
  If they ever want to access them again in the future, they actually have to get a search warrant.
• Brady material — Concept · 1 mention · first at 22:04
  Now, you don't have to be a lawyer to understand the implications of withholding exculpatory evidence, Brady material.
• confirmation hearing — Concept · 1 mention · first at 22:50
  Boie because sworn testimony from these two would confirm Boie lied in his confirmation hearing for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals when he said he never instructed any lawyers to ignore court orders.
• three judge panel — Concept · 1 mention · first at 23:30
  But there was interference from the higher court. The same three judge panel, by the way, that vacated Boseberg's contempt determination granted an emergency motion by Trump to temporarily stay the testimony while.
• gerrymandered district — Concept · 1 mention · first at 25:37
  Northeastern part of the state. The extra bad news for Republicans, this was a gerrymandered district.
• packed and cracked — Concept · 1 mention · first at 25:40
  Republicans packed and cracked Athens, Georgia, and it backfired, which I bet has Texas worried since the Supreme Court approved their racially.
• racially gerrymandered map — Concept · 1 mention · first at 25:49
  And it backfired, which I bet has Texas worried since the Supreme Court approved their racially gerrymandered map.
• approval rating — Concept · 1 mention · first at 25:57
  But let's go back to that Associated Press poll because it also revealed that Trump now has a mere 31% approval rating on the economy with 23 2/3 of Americans disapproving. That's negative 36 points.
• The Daily Beans — Concept · 1 mention · first at 28:54
  Thank you so much for watching. I'm Allison Gil. For daily news with swearing, check out the Daily Beans podcast first thing in the morning, Monday through Friday. And I'll see you here next week on The Breakdown.
• en banc panel — Concept · 1 mention
• ex parte proceeding — Concept · 1 mention
• FOIA — Concept · 1 mention
• INA — Concept · 1 mention
• motion to vacate — Concept · 1 mention
• Rule 41(g) — Concept · 1 mention
• vindictive prosecution — Concept · 1 mention

Places & events

• Costa Rica — Place · 1 mention · first at 16:43
  He could have plead guilty and left for Costa Rica as a protected refugee, but he decided to stand up for what's right.
• SECOT Prison — Place · 1 mention · first at 22:37
  Lawyers to tell the court to [ __ ] off about turning the planes around bound for Secoat prison in El Salvador this past March.
• District of Columbia — Place · 1 mention

Sponsors

• YouTube channel paid member — Sponsor · 1 mention

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 Hey everybody. Uh, I'm Allison Gil. Welcome to The Breakdown. I have an exclusive for you today. Uh, no mainstream media outlet is reporting on this, but if you watch the breakdown here on the Midas Touch Network every week, you know that I had some exclusive reporting this past summer when sources in the FBI and the Department of Justice told me that there were training videos explaining how to find and redact Trump's name from the Epstein files. Now, I held on to that story for about 10 minutes so that I could file a Freedom of Information Act request to get those Epstein training videos. Now, they didn't agree at first that I was even a legitimate media outlet for the purposes of disseminating information to the public. So, we appealed that and we won that and they conceded. Uh, which is nice, but um corporate media still didn't report on that. Then Jason Leupold got those 76 pages of FBI emails

1:01 pursuant to his own foyer request and we went over that here in the breakdown. And wouldn't you know it, those emails prove that there are Epstein training videos placed on unclassified SharePoint drives with no restrictions uh placed upon people who could access them within the information management division, the IMD at the FBI. Now, a couple of days ago, the government filed their response opposing my motion for expedited processing of my Freedom of Information Act request to get those videos. And you are not going to believe their argument against expedited processing.

1:44 And and I'm sure you haven't heard this anywhere else unless you read my Substack, but I'm going to tell you about it today along with all the other ways that Trump's Department of Justice has embarrassed itself this past week. So, this is exclusive. You're only going to see it here and uh on my Substack at mishote.com. We have all of that and more on today's episode of The Breakdown. Hey everybody, welcome to the breakdown here on the Midas touch network. First of all, thanks to Midas Touch for giving me this platform. As you may remember, multiple anonymous sources who participated in reviewing the Epstein files at the FBI and DOJ confided in me this past summer that in addition to being locked in the building, not allowed to leave, forced to review hundreds of thousands of pages of Epstein files and videos and photos so that they could log and redact certain information, including Trump's name,

2:41 that there existed on an unclassified SharePoint site PowerPoint decks with training videos embedded in them instructing them on how to find and log and mark Trump's name and other information for redaction training videos mostly because the IMD generally doesn't redact for publication. It's usually a a place called RIDs within the FBI which is much smaller uh division. So in order to get more people to do this they paid a million dollars of overtime in five days and locked the entire information management division in the building.

3:15 wouldn't let them leave. Uh, and that's where we get the number of at least a thousand people uh reviewing the epsene files. And because IMD wasn't really um trained or certified on how to redact things for publication, they had to create these trading videos. Uh, and apparently some of them specifically told you how to use the Excel spreadsheet to log Trump's name, the page number, the document, and all of that information. Now, at the time, the existence of the training videos was not known to the public. So, like I said, I held on to that for a few minutes so I could file a Freedom of Information Act request, which then turned into a lawsuit uh filed by me, MSW Media, because I wanted to get those videos from the FBI. And recently, Jason Leupold received dozens of pages of internal FBI emails that confirmed the existence of these Epstein training videos that my sources told me about. My

4:11 case was assigned to Judge Barl How in the DC district and back in September, she granted my unopposed motion for expedited briefing on summary judgement. So, we filed our motion for partial summary judgement and we asked for expedited processing of my foyer request because if there's widespread public interest or and a question about government integrity, you are able to ask the court to order the government to hand over the stuff quickly. put it on the top of the pile. Well, this past Tuesday the government filed its response to my motion and they oppose expedited processing.

4:50 Their argument, they claim that there's no widespread or exceptional public interest in the Epstein matter. That is their actual argument. They claim that I've failed in my burden to show that there's media interest in these training videos. I'm not kidding. They wrote, "In support of its request for expedited processing, MSW cites two standards. First, it cites a portion of the compelling needs standard, which requires that MSW establish on the record before the agency that it is a person primarily engaged in disseminating information with an urgency to inform the public concerning actual or alleged federal government activity. Alternatively, MSW must establish on the record before the agency that it the request it seeks. It seeks records for a matter of widespread and exceptional media interest in which there exist possible questions about the government's integrity that affect public confidence.

5:53 MSW has failed to establish eligibility for expedition under either standard. The court should accordingly deny its motion for summary judgement. Okay, let's start with the first part that I am a person primarily engaged in disseminating information. Now, at first they argued that I'm not a real media outlet. Maybe because they don't particularly like what I have to report, but after some back and forth and an appeal, we actually had to appeal that decision. They did concede that I'm a member of the media here in a September 5th filing. Dear Kell McClanahan, that's my lawyer. uh you appealed on behalf of your client, MSW Media, Inc. uh from the fee category determination made by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on your client's Freedom of Information Act request. The FBI has informed this office that it has changed your client's fee category to representative of the news media.

6:49 I did it. I'm a real boy. And the Department of Justice conceded that in their response. Look, defendant accepts for purposes of this motion that MSW is a person primarily engaged in disseminating information. Thanks guys, but just for the purpose of this. Next, they say first and foremost, the record before the agency does not support MSW's request as involving a matter of current exigency to the American public. and quote, "Starting with the widespread and exceptional media interest requirement, MSW has failed to establish a record of sufficient media coverage h and they keep repeating it, I guess, in hopes that it becomes true." quote, "For urgency to inform the public, MSW was required to provide evidence in the record that there's substantial interest either on the part of the American public or the media in this particular aspect of the plaintiff's allegations.

7:53 It did not do so. And for the exceptional media interest standard, MSW declined to provide the kind of evidence necessary to establish such media interest. They're actually arguing that there's not any public or media interest in these materials in the Epstein materials. For the foregoing reasons the court should deny MSW's partial motion for summary judgement. So, I'll be filing a response. My lawyer will. And we'll see what Judge Barl How has to say about it. And as you know, Pamela Joe has until December 19th to release the files because the law that was signed on November 19th said you have 30 days.

8:32 and they are nowhere near ready. The Democrats actually want an audit because they don't have faith she'll release the files in their entirety. No, of course she won't. But that will trigger a lawsuit. So, I just wanted to update you on my my foil lawsuit, everybody. Just in case you're wondering, there's not a lot of widespread public interest or media interest in the Epstein files. H. Now, in other news about the Epstein matter, in which the public has no interest whatsoever, House Oversight Dems released another trove of Epstein files.

9:07 This time, photographs that they received from the Epstein estate, not the DOJ, which I'm sure were subpoenaed because nobody cares about the Epstein files. Now, here's a photo of Steve Bannon meeting with Epstein. And what the hell is going on in that framed photo on the desk? Now, here's one with Epstein and I kept my underwear on, now give me a perogi, Alan Dersawitz. Here's another one with Bannon. Uh, here's one with Woody Allen. And of course, Donald Trump. Not that we don't have tons of these already. And these photos appear among 19 pictures first released by the committee. That's a small portion of the 95,000 photos it said it received in the latest batch from the Epstein estate.

9:58 And then on Friday evening, House Democrats said they'll release another batch of 70 more images. And it seems [clears throat] like Garcia and Massie are saying to reporters that there are actually extremely disturbing photographs that they have that involve minor children uh being molested um by adults, but they don't name names. Now, I'm not expecting them to name the victim's names, but if you're not going to release a photo because it's child assault, uh, child sexual assault material. You should describe it and you should tell us who's in it. That's what I think. I'm I'm kind of tired of the, "Oh, yeah, there's a terrible photo of an adult well-known man molesting a child. We just want to let you know, but we're not going to tell you who it is."

10:49 Um, I don't understand that at all. Now, NBC reports the latest release, which also contained redactions from the oversight committee, comes as the 30-day deadline approaches next week for the Justice Department to turn over to Congress the massive amount of files the federal government has on Epstein. On November 19th, Trump signed legislation passed by the House and the Senate that requires the DOJ to release the records. And and I think it's important to note that none of these files uh coming out from the Epstein estate and none of the files that judges have ordered to be released as far as grand jury material goes should impact the Department of Justice's ability to release all the files they have, including the files they stole from Biden era investigators when they had an open and ongoing investigation in the Southern District of New York and Trump came in and shut it down and fired the prosecutors and

11:41 stole the files. Those are also included in what they have to release on December 19th. And as I said, meanwhile, a federal judge in New York on Wednesday granted the DOJ's request to unseal grand jury records in Epstein's 2019 sex trafficking case. A different judge on Tuesday ordered the release of grand jury records related to Maxwell. And a federal judge in Florida last week also ordered the release of grand jury investigations into Epstein in 2005 and 2007. So, [clears throat] all right. Three weeks ago, uh, here on the breakdown, I said that things are all about to come crashing down for this administration.

12:24 Watch. It is all about to come crashing down just like all right now. And why? Because the regime is manufactured political hyperbole built on a foundation of lies and emissions and fabricated evidence. And because we the people keep pushing back. Well, everybody, this week we're starting to see a little bit of what I was talking about. First, Judge Cenis, a federal judge in Maryland, ordered the immediate release of Kilar Abrego Garcia. This is massive news. As it turns out, there was never a removal order on the books. And you can't hold someone in detention unless you're in the process of deporting them and they have a removal order. You can't deport them without a removal order.

13:11 So Mr. Abrego walked out of ICE custody Thursday evening and set foot on US soil, a free man, something ICE Barbie Christine swore would never happen. But that same night at 7:01 p.m. an immigration judge, and remember, immigration judges work for Trump, not the judicial branch. This is a handpicked immigration judge. They're firing all of the immigration judges that aren't just deporting anyone. They aren't doing what the executive branch says. They're firing them all, replacing them with handpicked immigration judges.

13:45 They're even uh recruiting people uh calling uh for deportation judges as opposed to immigration judges. But the Trump administration went to the immigration judge who then issued a retroactive removal order correcting what they referred to as a scrivener's error. which is just beyond corrupt for multiple reasons. The least of which is that immigration judge didn't have jurisdiction to do that because that immigration judge denied Mr. Abrego's motion to reopen his case for asylum and Abrego appealed to the board of immigration appeals BIA. And once you do that, the jurisdiction belongs to the BIA, not the immigration judge. Same with our regular judicial courts, right?

14:33 Once you appeal something from a district judge, the jurisdiction then belongs to the appellet court, not the district court. But even more corrupt, a scrivener's error is for things like fixing typos, not retroactively adding a deportation order where one never existed. And there's clearly collusion here between this handpicked immigration judge and the Trump administration to get this done. And Mr. because of his strict conditions of release had to check in with ICE the following morning at 8:00 a.m. So his lawyers worried about him being rearrested because of this BS scriveners error retroactive deportation order.

15:17 They filed a motion for a temporary restraining order blocking ICE from rearresting him. They pointed out the jurisdiction problem and then added quote even if the immigration judge had jurisdiction his order is not a final order of removal. The order expressly reserves appeal rights for both parties with an appeal deadline of January 12th, 2026. So this is an appealable thing. It would be if this judge had jurisdiction at all. And if you take away the appeals process, you take away due uh due process. Now third, the government's attempt to manufacture a removal order suante through an exparte proceeding.

15:59 that means by themselves in a backdoor meeting without notice to Mr. Abrego and without any opportunity to be heard violates the INA and due process. They go on to say the government had six years to identify and correct any alleged quote scriveners error and the petitioner has repeatedly pointed out the lack of a removal order throughout these proceedings. Now, Judge Senesis granted this temporary restraining order. [snorts] Mr. Abrego checked in with ICE at 8:00 a.m. the next morning and left a free man without incident.

16:37 And I just want to take a moment to acknowledge the bravery of Mr. Abrego. He could have plead guilty and left for Costa Rica as a protected refugee, but he decided to stand up for what's right. He didn't commit those crimes. He wasn't going to plead guilty. And I hope this is a lesson to our lawmakers, our elected lawmakers that they might may find the fortitude to stand up to this administration with as much courage as this young man has shown. But that is not the only embarrassing thing that happened to the administration this week. The broken, sad, flaccid Department of Justice decided to try and indict Leticia James again. Again, this is the second attempt at a reindictment, the fourth attempt at an indictment at all. And this is my Christmas wish come true, just as I hoped they would. They went back a second time and a third time.

17:34 And they failed again and again. Like I said, this is the fourth time Donald Trump has tried to indict the New York Attorney General and failed. First when Eric Cybert refused to take the case to the grand jury. Then when Lindsey Halagan fraudulent fraudulently tried to obtain an indictment as a private citizen and then last week the Department of Justice went back to a grand jury and failed and then they decided to go back again and failed again. At what point did they give up? I mean, I guess we'll know by the end of this week, but what a bunch of sad, corrupt, pathetic idiots.

18:13 And if they do go back a fourth or fifth or sixth time and end end up getting an indictment, Leticia James will have a real good case for vindictive se and selective prosecution. And she'll have a very good reason to demand the grand jury tapes to see if there was malfeasants. What did you what did you say differently the seventh time?

18:35 [snorts] Uh, I'm I'm curious, and I'll ask some some experts about this, whether these repeated failed attempts help others in vindictive and selective prosecution motions, like if Adam Schiff is indicted or Eric Swallwell for mortgage fraud, Lisa Cook. I'm I'm I'm curious as to whether it helps other people. Also this week, as if the dead horse that is the Jim Comey case were not dead enough, a judge just ordered all of the evidence at the core of prosecutor's case against Jim Comey to be returned to Daniel Richmond because, you guessed it, the government violated his Fourth Amendment rights by failing to get a warrant to rifle through his seized materials again to try to prosecute Jim Comey. In a 46-page opinion, Judge Kler Kotelli writes, quote, "When [clears throat] the government violates the Fourth Amendment's prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures by sweeping up a broad swath of a person's

19:39 electronic files, retaining those files long after the relevant investigation has ended, and later sifting through those files without a warrant to obtain evidence against someone else, what remedy is available to the victim of the government's unlawful intrusion?" Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41G provides one such remedy. A court may order the government to return the files to their rightful owner. This case calls for that remedy. And not only did she order Trump to return all of the seized materials, but if they ever want to access them again in the future, they actually have to get a search warrant.

20:14 I think Anna Bower from Lawfair put it best. She said, "Dan Richmond is a professor at Columbia Law School and a leading authority on criminal procedure. not exactly an ideal target for Fourth Amendment violations. I'd love to see what his Crimro exam looks like this year. Oh, here's here's something else no one else is talking about besides independent media. L Monica Maccgyver's case is about to hit the fan for the Department of Justice, and it's all thanks to, you guessed it, incompetence and malfeasants. The Department of Justice is always trying to cover up the truth and it always comes back to bite them in the ass. Now, you'll recall New Jersey Congresswoman Lam Monica Macyver was arrested and charged for quote unquote assaulting an ICE officer. And anyone with eyes that has seen the video knows that she did not assault the ICE officer.

21:08 As a matter of fact, federal agents who texted the video to each other back in May admitted to each other that the video didn't show she assaulted them. But further, the Department of Justice kept those text messages to themselves until they were forced to turn them over November 26th. In fact, Marcy Wheeler posted at emptywheel.net, met quote DOJ was never going to turn over these discussions conducted on signal until Judge Seer ordered this supplemental briefing. They were sitting on evidence that shows that before DHS first started calling MacGyver's actions an assault on May 10th. MacGyver Macyver had to ask to have these tweets taken down, but the timeline is in her motion to do so. They had shared video noting that their own actions look bad.

22:01 Now, you don't have to be a lawyer to understand the implications of withholding exculpatory evidence, Brady material. And even if they don't get in trouble for that, it's certainly a case killer along with the act just the actual video of what happened. All you got to do is see it with your own eyes. [sighs] Let's move on to Judge Boseberg's series of extraordinary contempt. This week he had ordered the sworn testimony of whistleblower Arezz Reveni and Drew Ensign. Both of whom witnessed Emil Boove instruct Department of Justice lawyers to tell the court to [ __ ] off about turning the planes around bound for Secoat prison in El Salvador this past March.

22:41 The government did everything it could to stop that testimony and protect Emile Boie because sworn testimony from these two would confirm Boie lied in his confirmation hearing for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals when he said he never instructed any lawyers to ignore court orders. Now, Boseberg said those three scant declarations we talked about last week submitted by Christine Nome, Joseph Mazzara, and Todd Blanch, um, that were they were they were woefully short on information. So, Judge Booseberg scheduled Ruveni and Nine to testify this coming week. And the government tried to stop it with a motion to reconsider, but Boseberg denied their bid and testimony was back on, provided there wasn't any interference from a higher court.

23:28 But there was interference from the higher court. The same three judge panel, by the way, that vacated Boseberg's contempt determination granted an emergency motion by Trump to temporarily stay the testimony while they consider the motion in full. So, as it stands right now, the Ruvenian and testimony is on hold. But keep in mind, it was the full onbunk panel above these three, two Trump judges and a Biden judge that revived the contempt proceedings in the first place. So I imagine there will be an appeal. Now, as always, I like to end the breakdown on an upnote. Democrats won more elections this week. First, Miami elected its first ever woman as mayor and the first Democrat since 1997.

24:15 Bonus, Trump was planning on building his presidential library in Miami, and new mayor Eileen Higgins doesn't seem too keen on that idea to give up public land. Now, Cuban Republicans have dominated politics in Miami for a generation, but Trump's aggressive mass deportation is killing his numbers. According to a new poll from the Associated Press this week, he is 22 points underwater on immigration. It's so bad that on Friday night, Fox News reported that the Department of Homeland Security is going to pivot to only arresting immigrants with serious offenses.

24:52 First of all, that's an admission that they haven't been doing that, that they've been targeting noncriminals. And second of all, I don't believe them for one second. Unless this explains the recent rift between Steven Miller and Donald Trump. Maybe Trump thinks Steven Miller's aggressive mass deportation agenda is making him look bad. Uh, next up, Democrats flipped a house seat in Georgia that Trump won by double digits. Eric Gizler, I hope I'm pronouncing that properly. He's a Democrat who owns a local olive oil store. Uh defeated Republican Mack Dutch Guest in the 121st House District in the northeastern part of the state. The extra bad news for Republicans, this was a gerrymandered district.

25:40 Republicans packed and cracked Athens, Georgia, and it backfired, which I bet has Texas worried since the Supreme Court approved their racially gerrymandered map. But let's go back to that Associated Press poll because it also revealed that Trump now has a mere 31% approval rating on the economy with 23 2/3 of Americans disapproving. That's negative 36 points. And of course, Trump has been given talking points on affordability, but he's too demented to stay on script. So, he rolls back into his affordability is a Democratic hoax invisible accordion routine.

26:24 Nonsense. And it's going to hurt them in the midterms. And I hope it angers Republicans who have to get elected again enough to cause them to resign or revolt like they did in Indiana. The Indiana Senate this week voted no on Trump's redistricting map. And and not because they didn't want a new map. Many said they would have, but they were pissed because of the threats. Trump tried to shake them down and they weren't having it. And this feels like a tipping point to me. I mean, in the face of bomb threats and swatting, Indiana Republicans stood their ground and defied Trump. And I think we may see more of the party break away as they searched desperately for an identity, which is what I think Marjorie Taylor Green is trying to do. We know she announced her resignation and that she's trying to pivot to America first over MAGA. She's trying to usurp the MAGA base, the cult, the hardcore base, saying that Trump and

27:32 MAGA are no longer America first because of what's happening in Venezuela, what's happening in Ukraine. So, come to the America first side, which is another phrase used by the KKK and the Nazi party. But MS Now reported this week that Marjorie Taylor Green is plotting a Hail Mary on her way out the door before she resigns. She's going to try to vacate Mike Johnson's speakerhip. She will need nine Republicans to trigger that vote according to new House rules. And she's trying to whip that vote. She's going around talking to everybody one by one. Now, this is a very big This is a long shot for all intents and purposes. And it's probably not going to work, but it brings me joy that she's trying. It brings me joy that she's There's so much infighting in this party.

28:24 That's not going to help them in the midterms. It will split the vote and I'm excited about it. I don't think anything is going to help them in the midterms at this point other than their plots to cheat. Also, please keep in mind Marjorie Taylor Green is a horrible person. She deserves no quarter. The tent is not that big. Anyway, I'm so glad you're all here. Thank you so much for watching. Uh, I'm Allison Gil. For daily news with swearing, check out the Daily Beans podcast first thing in the morning, Monday through Friday. And I'll see you here next week on The Breakdown.

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Questions about this episode

What is "LIVE: Trump Issues SHOCK RESPONSE to MY REQUEST About THE FILES" about?

In this segment, Allison Gil reveals her exclusive reporting on the existence of training videos related to Epstein files, specifically how to redact Trump's name from them, which the FBI has made accessible without restrictions. She discusses the challenges faced in obtaining these materials through a Freedom of Information Act request and critiques the government's recent arguments against…

What is mentioned in this MeidasTouch episode?

84 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including The Breakdown, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), expedited processing, removal order, Summary judgment, General jurisdiction. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "LIVE: Trump Issues SHOCK RESPONSE to MY REQUEST About THE FILES"?

The episode runs 30 min; the transcript is about 4,549 words in 38 timestamped sections.

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