Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Furious Judge SMACKS DOWN Trump Subpoena Attempt

Episode Date: May 11, 2024

Trump's attempts to rummage around in the private confidential files of a former special Manhattan DA prosecutor and see if he can argue that he was “blackmailed” by Stormy Daniels has failed (again). Michael Popok explains who Mark Pomerantz is; and why Judge Merchan is not letting him take the stand for Trump and not allowing Trump to get the Manhattan DA’s notes about Pomerantz’ opinions about the case before he noisily quit the DA’s office. Get up to 40% off for a limited time when you go to https://shopbeam.com/LEGALAF and use code LEGALAF at checkout! Visit https://meidastouch.com for more! Join us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/legalaf Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown Lights On with Jessica Denson: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/lights-on-with-jessica-denson On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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So Michael Popak with the Legal AF Update. Trump on trial. Donald Trump and his lawyers have a thing for Mark Pomerantz, the former special counsel, special prosecutor who preceded Alvin Bragg in the Manhattan DA's office investigating the Stormy Daniels election interference case. But you know who doesn't share having a thing for Mark Pomerantz in any of his documents and information? Judge Mershawn. Because Judge Mershawn just rejected a subpoena that Donald Trump's lawyers issued late to try to get all information and notes about Mark Pomerantz and particularly about the office at the time by the special prosecutor, special counsel investigating whether Stormy Daniels committed some sort of extortion or shakedown of Donald Trump in blackmail.

Now look, Mark Pomerantz is a, how do I put this, controversial character. And controversial is doing a heavy lift in that sentence. Meaning, he didn't like the fact that when there was a changing of the guard in his bosses, from Cy Vance, who was the Manhattan District Attorney who retired, to Alvin Bragg during that period, because Pomerantz and his partner got hired and got appointed special prosecutors to investigate Donald Trump by

Cy Vance. When the new guy got elected, Alvin Bragg, as was his right, because the buck stops with him in that office, not with Mark Pomerantz. He had Mark Pomerantz and Kerry Dunn, his partner, make a presentation about where they were in the investigation. Pomerantz, it's publicly reported, he has a book out there. Pomerantz said that he believed that Trump should be prosecuted and prosecuted for even more than the Stormy Daniels case. At the end, that's not what Alvin Bragg believed based on the evidence was being presented that he thought was conflicting and relied too heavily at moments with Michael

Cohen, who at that moment Alvin Bragg was not a complete fan of. He later got comfortable with Michael Cohen. Pomerantz was upset because Alvin Bragg ultimately chose only to prosecute Donald Trump's organizations for tax fraud and business record fraud, which he did successfully and got a 17-count criminal conviction against Trump Organization people in Allen Weisselberg two years ago. But that wasn't enough for Mark Pomerantz. So Mark Pomerantz noisily exited. He noisily quit.

When I say noisy, I mean he wrote a letter and published it and gave it to the New York Times to try to embarrass Alvin Bragg into prosecuting Donald Trump. So for those that say that Alvin Bragg is on a witch hunt, that Alvin Bragg is going after him, that Alvin Bragg is in the back pocket of Joe Biden, Alvin Bragg didn't even initially want to go after Donald Trump and Mark Pomerantz ended up trying to embarrass him in the paper.

Now look, it backfired on Mark Pomerantz. I don't think he covered himself in any glory taking on his boss and writing the book, which only gave an opening to Donald Trump to try to delay things, to argue selective prosecution and bias prosecution and the like. In fact, my colleague, Karen Friedman-Iknifilo, formerly of the Manhattan DA's office, has been very, very critical of Mark Pomerantz.

So Mark Pomerantz sort of gave a little bit of a gift to Donald Trump, and then when he got subpoenaed by the defense, he objected, as did the prosecutors. Judge Murchon has now sided with the prosecutors. He's quashed the subpoena to Mark Pomerantz, meaning that anything related to Mark Pomerantz, his private notes, his personal notes, his work product, is not relevant to the prosecution and really relates to the internal work papers or mental impressions of the lawyers, which are almost always privileged, whether they're prosecutors or defense lawyers, about their case.

My private feelings at a certain moment in time about my case, my case sucks. I have a problem with witness A. And I put that in the file, the other side doesn't get to see that. That's my own private musings. And that's what they were seeking. In fact, when Judge Mershon, I'm gonna read to you from the order right now, when Judge Mershon had just issued this order,

brand new, a DNO, a decision and order here in New York, he starts by saying that when you look at the appropriate law in the state of New York in the criminal proceedings, you say that there must be an entitlement to a subpoena and that the Court of Appeals in New York, which is the highest court, has held on this is all on page two, has held that a subpoena is properly quashed, meaning it won't be issued, or if it's already issued it will be voided, when the party issuing the subpoena fails to, quote, demonstrate any theory of relevancy and materiality, but instead merely desires the opportunity for an unrestrained foray into confidential records in the hope that

the unearthing of some unspecified information will enable them to impeach witnesses. Isn't that exactly what Donald Trump is trying to do here? Go rummaging around the private musings and desk drawers and filing cabinets electronic or otherwise of the prosecutor hoping they'll find something that they'll unearth to impeach a witness? We don't allow this type of fishing expedition in court, civil or criminal. And that's what the judge has reminded them in quashing the subpoena.

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and use code LegalAF for up to 40% off. On page three of the order, the judge says that Pomerance was a special assistant district attorney, a SATA, sorry, a SATA, S-A-D-A, within the New York County District Attorney's Office, that's the Manhattan DA that we talk about, for about a year. The subpoena seeks material from Pomerance during his time when he was a special assistant

DA, with some requests seeking materials up to a month after his departure. They particularly seek, and listen to this because this was important to the judge's decision making here. This is the part the judge did like the request sought all documents relating to the February 28 2021 memorandum evaluating whether Stormy Daniels committed extortion and or larceny and whether President Trump was a victim of blackmail. I mean that's sort of their argument. And Trump would love to find something in the prosecutor's file that says that he was.

But that's just as the judge went on to say, that's work product, meaning privileged. You don't get to know the mental impressions. The judge went on to say on the bottom of page three, a prosecutor's work product, including those portions of documents, which are legal research, opinions, theories, or conclusions of the people, or its attorney's agent is privileged, right? Especially as the judge said, the defendant uses the term evaluating within the request.

We're not giving you opinions, theories, or conclusions, or evaluations. That, of course, is at the highest level of protection under privilege. So what we have is that the judge is continuing to balance the obligations of the prosecutors to turn over information that's both inculpatory and exculpatory tends to prove somebody's guilt

or somebody's innocence. Sure, they have to turn it all over under a long line of US constitutional cases that we refer to generally as Brady material. You got to turn it over. They have turned it all over, but they're not going to go deeper to the next level into the ramblings and ruminations and who knows what of a disgruntled Mark Pomerantz who eventually quit because he didn't think the prosecution was moving fast enough. Lord knows what's in there.

Lord knows what's in some of my files about some of my cases at the moment that I'm handling them. I certainly don't want the world or the opponent to see them, and that's what the judge is trying to balance. You get what you need in order to try your case, but you don't get to go rummaging around the middle of the night with a flashlight into your opponent's work files to find something that you may think you can use in cross-examination of somebody. Mark Pomerantz is not going to be on the stand.

The prosecutors aren't putting them on, and Trump has already been denied the ability to put Mark Pomerantz on the stand. So he's not going to be able to do this whole show trial, this whole sideshow in front of the jury to say, oh, there was a guy named Mark Pomerantz and Mark Pomerantz, he'll tell you that he thought Stormy Danes was trying to extort my client and therefore, therefore what? Therefore that's the excuse for the cover-up and the crimes that were committed? If you think you're, here's newsflash lawyers, if you think your client's being extorted or your client thought he was being extorted, there's a word for that.

There's a way to handle that. You call the cops. You go to the Manhattan DA's office and say, I'm being shaken down by Stormy Daniels. You don't pay the cover-up money. You don't record it in your books and records in a fraudulent way. You don't pay Michael Cohen a back doorway for fake invoices to cover it up and then lie to the IRS as a result and then try to interfere with the election. You don't do that. So I don't know how the whole I was extorted and blackmailed thing helps Donald Trump since he didn't act as if he was extorted or blackmailed.

He acted as if he needed to cover up a bad thing that he did which is in effect the essence of the crime because of the way he handled it on his books and records and the fake invoices and payments to Michael Cohen right? It's the checks not the sex as we like to say, on Legal AF. We'll continue to follow the Trump trial when it's on, when it's off, you know, motions filed, things that are handled,

violations of the gag order, Trump maybe going to jail, the next set of witnesses, you know, how we think the jury's receiving all this information with our experience as long-standing trial lawyers. One Place, Midas Touch Touch and an illegal AF podcast. Did I say podcast? Yes. Wednesdays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on this YouTube channel. You know you're here already. Free subscribe. Help them get to 3 million free

subscribers on Midas Touch and build this network with our bare hands. That's what we do. We don't blow smoke or sunshine. We got the audio podcast that goes up right after the video podcast goes up. And we do hot takes like this one about every hour. You like what I'm doing? Go over to the Midas Touch YouTube channel, free subscribe, look for playlists

or contributors, Michael Popok. You'll find my entire body of work. There's like a thousand hot takes there, just like this one. So until my next hot take, until my next Legal AF, this is Michael Popak reporting. Heary, heary, Legal AF Law Breakdown is now in session. Go beyond the headlines and get a deep dive

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