Transcript

Trump RUNS SCARED as Judge OBLITERATES His GAMES

From MeidasTouch · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 17 min · 2,891 words · 23 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Trump RUNS SCARED as Judge OBLITERATES His GAMES", an episode of MeidasTouch published January 30, 2026 (17 min, about 2,891 words). It mentions 8 people, works and ideas, including American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Michael Popach, Venezuela, Donald Trump, Jeb Booseberg.

What this episode is about

A recent federal court filing reveals that the Trump administration's evidence linking 137 men to the Venezuelan narco-terrorist group Trend Ara is based on questionable signs like tattoos and symbols, deemed "patently absurd" by the ACLU. Chief Judge Booseberg aims to hold the administration accountable for violating due process rights, as these men were unlawfully deported to El Salvador despite a court order stipulating their right to a fair hearing.

Key takeaways

  • Tattoos and jerseys: the new criteria for narco-terrorism? A fashion faux pas or a legal farce?
  • ACLU confidence levels soar—only 25% of detainees actually linked to the alleged narco-terror group.
  • Flight cancellations? More like convenient excuses. DHS operates multiple flights to Venezuela daily.
  • Due process in the dark? Sending 137 men to El Salvador in the dead of night screams injustice.
  • From basketball to bad behavior: linking Jordan jerseys to crime is as absurd as it sounds!

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 3:00: Jeb Booseberg, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Donald Trump, Venezuela
  2. – 6:00: Venezuela, Marco Rubio, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Donald Trump
  3. – 9:00: 3 Day Blinds, Venezuela, El Salvador
  4. – 12:00: Venezuela, Marco Rubio
  5. – 15:00: Venezuela, Marco Rubio, El Salvador
  6. – 16:46: American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Michael Popach, Venezuela

Notable quotes from "Trump RUNS SCARED as Judge OBLITERATES His GAMES"

  • You're on the Midas Touch Network and on Legal AF. Let's get to the new developments in this case. Chief Jeb Booseberg is trying to hold this administration accountable since at.
    about Michael Popach · at
  • But the American Civil Liberties Union, who collaborates with us here on Legal AF, they are keeping track of where their clients are. And they ran back into court and the judge says, Here's.
    about American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) · at
  • Are we going to do? So, we'll get back to you, judge, but we're not doing a darn thing. By the way, I thought Marco Rubio was the viceroy of Venezuela. At least that's what…
    about Donald Trump · at
  • Now, if you use my URL, threedayblinds.com/legalaf, they are running a buy 1 get one 50% off deal. They'll send local, professionally trained design consultants with an average…
    about 3 Day Blinds · at
  • They're going to do it, whether it's bring them back, remote hearings, whatever. As you said, Secretary Rubio filed a declaration saying things are too delicate to do anything.
    about Marco Rubio · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Michael Popach — Person · Host / main speaker · 2 mentions · first at
    Narrates and analyzes the federal court filing and ACLU arguments; frames the episode’s legal/political critique and introduces an interview clip with ACLU counsel.
  • Donald Trump — Person · Referenced political actor / subject of criticism · 3 mentions · first at
    Presented as the driving force behind the administration actions at issue (use of the Alien Enemies Act, alleged Venezuela oil-field takeover, and the removal/transfer of the 137 men).
  • Jeb Booseberg — Person · Referenced judge / presiding judicial authority · 3 mentions · first at
    Identified as the Chief Judge overseeing the case (JG) and contempt-related proceedings; portrayed as ordering a due-process plan and pursuing accountability for alleged violations of court orders.
    You're on the Midas Touch Network and on Legal AF. Let's get to the new developments in this case. Chief Jeb Booseberg is trying to hold this administration accountable since…
  • Marco Rubio — Person · Referenced government official / declarant · 5 mentions · first at
    Described as having submitted a sworn declaration (as Secretary of State) arguing conditions are too delicate to provide due process; the ACLU filing is said to rebut his claims.

Companies & orgs

Places & events

  • Venezuela — Place · Setting · 13 mentions · first at
    Central to the legal case discussed, involving the transfer of 137 men without due process and the geopolitical context of oil fields.
    Exchange facilitated by El Salvador to where Venezuela just before the quote unquote war broke out. We're sending these people back to Venezuela, a country we're at war with.…
  • El Salvador — Place · Setting · 6 mentions · first at
    Involved in the legal case as the initial destination where the 137 men were sent without due process.
    Fired, andor thrown under the bus by Donald Trump. In this particular case, these 137 men represent a class that were sent to El Salvador without due process in the middle of…

Sponsors

  • 3 Day Blinds — Product · Sponsor · 2 mentions · first at
    Promoted during the podcast as a sponsor, offering custom window treatments.

Full transcript with timestamps

According to a new filing in federal court, the best evidence that the Trump administration has to prove that 137 men are part of Trend Ara, the narco terrorist group in Venezuela, that was the entire impetus for Donald Trump's takeover of the oil fields of Venezuela. his use of the Alien Enemies Act. The entirety of the evidence against them is what the American Civil Liberties Union calls patently absurd use of tattoos and clothing, hand gestures, symbols, logos, and graffiti, including things that are quote unquote close to laughable. I'm Michael Popach bringing you up to date in a case pending before Chief Judge Boseberg we call JG.

You're on the Midas Touch Network and on Legal AF. Let's get to the new developments in this case. Chief Jeb Booseberg is trying to hold this administration accountable since at least March. He's the judge that started the criminal contempt proceedings against the Trump administration. That's been blocked a couple of times by the DC Court of Appeals, the Circuit Court of Appeals. However, there's going to be a new hearing in that matter, and it could end up back with Jeb Booseberg to allow him to continue to pursue contempt proceedings, primarily against Christy Gnome of all people, someone who's very, very close to being impeached, if not fired, andor thrown under the bus by Donald Trump. In this particular case, these 137 men represent a class that were sent to El Salvador without due process in the middle of the night in violation of the court's order. Judge Boseberg ordered that these men pursuant

to Supreme Court precedent that was established just in the last year um ordered that they get and they're entitled to habius corpus due process rights to get before a federal judge to argue the case that they are not members of Trenda and they should be allowed to stay in the United States. The United States in order to uh bury their mistake um of sending these men without due process over court order in contempt. then had them transferred at a prisoner exchange facilitated by El Salvador to where Venezuela just before the quote unquote war broke out. We're sending these people back to Venezuela, a country we're at war with. if you think that made sense and along for the ride with the 137 people to try to get them away from federal court jurisdiction.

But the American Civil Liberties Union, who collaborates with us here on Legal AF, they are keeping track of where their clients are. And they ran back into court and the judge says, "Here's what I'm going to do. I am going to order that due process be given. I want to hear a plan from the United States. Submit a plan to me about how you plan on giving them due process." remote hearings, Zoom hearings, flying them back to the United States, having it done in consular offices, whatever your proposal is, I'm all ears. And then about two weeks ago, they or three weeks ago, they sent in a declaration, a sworn statement of testimony by Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, about a few days after the Venezuelan oil field takeover.

And there was a whole bunch of I know you told us you want us to provide you with a plan for due process, but there can't be no plan. We have no plan. It's unstable there. Who who destabilized it? You know, it's very delicate negotiations. Uh I can't bring this up in diplomacy. I can't guarantee uh you know that uh uh that there'll be a proper notary publics to swear in witnesses. You know, what are we going to do? So, we'll get back to you, judge, but we're not doing a darn thing. By the way, I thought Marco Rubio was the viceroy of Venezuela. At least that's what Donald Trump referred to him as he can't figure out a way to get 137 people on on a plane back to the United States or to a consular office for a hearing. He also said flights in and out are very delicate. You know, air traffic and air travel is very uh tumultuous right now. And uh yeah, but as the American Civil Liberties pointed

out in their own filing, there's at least three flights a day now running. Homeland Security Air is running regularly in and out of Venezuela. So they say, "Why can't they give them due process and put them on planes?" Now, in their new filing, which I have a copy of, the uh one of my favorite parts is when the American Civil Liberties Union says to the judge, "We might not even need hearings. We are so confident in our evidence that these are not trend to aragwa or as they say in their papers 75% of the men that were sent in the middle of the night and disappeared to El Salvador have no criminal record whatsoever and have and some of them many of them were in the country legally under asylum or other processes.

So they're like we can put together affidavit and submit summary judgement papers. We don't even need a hearing because we're so confident that the government doesn't have the evidence to prove that our clients are trend aragwa that we'll do it on papers without a hearing. That's how confident the ACLU is. Here's what they said on page five and six about the patent absurdity um of the case, including wearing a Michael Jordan Bulls jersey. Every 11-year-old out there wearing a Chicago Bulls Jordan jersey, retro jersey, look out because ICE might be coming to your door next. The government's own documents, the ACLU says, reveal the patent absurdity of using tattoos and attire as indicators of TDA, that's trend aragua membership, as they've done for many class members.

That's the 137. For instance, the Chicago Homeland Security Investigations Office identified wearing a Chicago Bulls jersey, particular particularly one bearing Michael Jordan's name as a TDA marker. Uh, experts characterize this theory, the ACLU tells the judge, as close to laughable. No, I think it's it's it's laughable given the Bull's status as Chicago's home team and Jordan's universal popularity. Here's a quote from one of the experts. The idea that a Jordan tattoo or jersey would be used to link someone with Trenda Ara is close to laughable. There you go. Even the government's own intelligence contradicts the practice.

Um, gang unit collections determined that the Chicago Bulls attire, clocks, and rose tattoos are typically related to the Venezuelan culture and not a definite indicator of being a member of the gang. Nor has the government's reliance on hand gestures, symbols, logos, graffiti, or matter of dress fare any better. Experts agree that trend aragua lacks consistent uh iconography, um a unifying symbols or a distinctive style of clothes. They just don't have that. They don't have gang colors, if you know what I mean. And there's no evidence whatsoever that TDA maintains a constitution or issues membership documentation. Yet these two were treated as purported indicators of affiliation. The ACLU says to the judge, moreover, approximately 75% of individuals sent to El Salvador to the Secod prison had no criminal record in the United States or abroad, and many entered the United States lawfully,

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reason to believe that the current head of Venezuela, the vice president, would not honor the specific agreement made by the Maduro regime to not impose obstacles to their travel to the United States. In other words, even Maduro is going to let them go to the US. They argue that they're unable to retrieve class members from Venezuela as civilian travel into and out of Venezuela has become heavily restricted. But the ACLU says, but the defendant Department of Homeland Security has expanded deportation flights to Venezuela since the ouster sending three flights in the past week. So they're sending people to Venezuela. Planes got to come back to the United States. Why can't they be filled with 137 men looking for due process? So they had so the the ACLU asked the judge to force the government to submit a new proposal to allow for remote proceedings um to give them back their travel documents to

allow for written submissions uh and to put them back on their heels and explain well the judge bought it and said or agreed and uh has ordered that by February 2nd the government respond to the proposal made by the ACLU to allow these people to go to consular offices, be flown back to the United States, be put on planes or or or submit written submissions as due process. And and by um uh February 9th, the judge is going to hold a hearing in which he's going to decide on this very issue. Judge Boseberg's got his hands full, but he is not stopping in his pursuit of justice. just as you want a federal judge, impartial federal judge to do.

He's been charged with um they they made a bar complaint against him, a judge complaint against him. They try to get him removed from the case. They try to impeach him and yet Chief Judge Boseberg, who is who is a Republican appointee apparently, uh just keeps on going. Now, I had the honor of having Lee Galert, the lead lawyer for the ACLU in this matter, who who had these papers drafted and he signed them uh on for an interview about this very issue just the same day as they submitted that paper. And here's a clip. Well, Lee, while I've got you, because our audience, I don't want to leave them on the edge of their seat. You and I first got together talking about a case in DC in front of Chief Judge Boseberg called JG and 137 clients of yours in Venezuela. That was before the Trump administration decided to take over the oil fields of of Venezuela with a military coup uh or push. And so, and I know that Marco

Rubio filed a piece of paper with Judge Boseberg and said, "Well, you wanted us to tell you how we're going to give due process to these 137." And the answer is, uh, too delicate, too diplomatic, can't do it. Uh, where are we in that case and your clients?

Yeah. So, you're absolutely right. The judge said, "I have jurisdiction. These men were sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador without due process, then transferred to Venezuela. They are entitled to due process. I have jurisdiction to do it. I want the government to submit a plan of how they're going to do it, whether it's bring them back, remote hearings, whatever." As you said, Secretary Rubio filed a declaration saying things are too delicate to do anything. The judge has now said he wants a response to that from us on the night of January 26th um midnight January 26th.

Right. So, and then we'll see. And we've asked the judge to hold a hearing next week. We'll see if he does. But these men have been out there now for so long, removed without any due process. And so we hope that the judge will put his foot down and say to the government, you know, enough is enough. Um, even taking into account the delicacy of what's going on in Venezuela, there are ways to deal with it. The other part of it, as you know, is that he is trying to hold potentially hold them in criminal contempt for sending them to El Salvador in the first place. Even though he had no saying, don't transfer them over. He ruled that there, you know, I want people to take the stand to explain why they nonetheless turned people over at El Salvador. Even though I had an order, they refused to take the stand. They went to the court of appeals. So, we're waiting any day now from a ruling from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals on

whether he can go forward with his contempt proceedings. I suspect either side who who doesn't prevail will will go further in that. You know, there's Anbank, there's the Supreme Court. I think there's there's a lot at stake there as well because obviously it's the fate of these men, but it's also is the Trump administration going to respect judicial order and that as as you've said before that transcends any particular issue that goes to part of who we are as a country and the rule of law.

Absolutely. And then finally, the 137 I saw in the paper filed by Marco Rubio. Uh I don't know what you're going to write in your briefing, but he did call himself or he has been called the viceroy of Venezuela. And yet he doesn't have the ability to provide due process to these men despite court order. Putting that aside for a minute, um the you know, they had some some language in their filing about, well, we don't even know where these people are. Um, you know, look, 60 Minutes interviewed, I think, a number of your clients when they did that that that report that was that was kaibosed and then finally Eric.

Um, people were like, "How do they get those people?" Because they got sent to Venezuela. That's how they got these people. Um, your clients want you to go forward with this issue and get them the due process that they that the Supreme Court has said that they're entitled to. Right.

Right. Right. And so whether the government knows where they are or not, we can know where they are.

Right. That's right. I said that in a hot take. I said, "Well, the ACLU knows where their clients are." So, we'll leave it at that. We look forward to your filing there. Glad you're here with us on uh Midas Touch. Come over to Legal AF. The American Civil Liberties Union is with us now regularly for reporting. They have their own playlist under the American Civil Liberties Union. I have people like Lee Galert on on a regular basis. Uh, in fact, just uh later today, I'll be interviewing from the American Civil Liberties Union, Terry Nelson, who's uh one of the heads in the ACLU Minnesota office to talk about all things Minnesota and what the ACLU is doing about it in their lawsuits. I'm glad you're here. Hit the free subscribe button on Legal AF YouTube. Come over to our Substack and do the exact same thing. So, until my next report, I'm Michael Pop. Can't get your fill of legal AF? Me neither. That's why we

formed the legal AF Substack. Every time we mention something in a hottake, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the Substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do called, wait for it, Morning AF. What else? All the other contributors from Legal A are there as well. We got some new reporting. We got interviews. We got ad free versions of the podcast and hot takes. Where? Legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Trump RUNS SCARED as Judge OBLITERATES His GAMES"?

Michael Popach (Host), Lee Galert (Guest).

What is "Trump RUNS SCARED as Judge OBLITERATES His GAMES" about?

A recent federal court filing reveals that the Trump administration's evidence linking 137 men to the Venezuelan narco-terrorist group Trend Ara is based on questionable signs like tattoos and symbols, deemed "patently absurd" by the ACLU. Chief Judge Booseberg aims to hold the administration accountable for violating due process rights, as these men were unlawfully deported to El Salvador…

What is mentioned in this MeidasTouch episode?

8 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Michael Popach, Venezuela, Donald Trump, Jeb Booseberg, Marco Rubio. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Trump RUNS SCARED as Judge OBLITERATES His GAMES"?

The episode runs 17 min; the transcript is about 2,891 words in 23 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 30, 2026.