Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Jack Smith READY TO POUNCE after Trump gets MORE Bad News
Episode Date: May 18, 2023The top-rated legal and political podcast Legal AF is back for another hard-hitting look at the most consequential developments at the intersection of law and politics. On this Special midweek’s ed...ition, anchors national trial attorney Michael Popok and former top Manhattan DA prosecutor Karen Friedman Agnifilo, are joined by their co-anchor, civil rights attorney, and co-founder of Meidas Touch, to discuss: 1. In fighting among the Trump legal “team” as Tim Parlatore, Mar a Lago lead counsel, heads for the door; 2. Rudy Giuilani being accused in a new sworn suit this week that he not only is a serial predator, groomer and sexual abuser, but that he participated in a Presidential Pardons For Sale scheme with Trump for $2 million dollars a pop; and 3. Ivanka Trump finding herself in hot water again with the New York Attorney General and its $250 million dollar fraud case, and may already be in contempt of court, and so much more. DEALS FROM OUR SPONSORS! AG1: Head to https://athleticgreens.com/legalaf to get a FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D and 5 FREE Travel Packs with your first purchase! NOMNOM: Go Right Now for 50% off your no-risk two week trial at https://TryNom.com/LEGLAF SUPPORT THE SHOW: Shop LEGAL AF Merch at: https://store.meidastouch.com Join us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/meidastouch Remember to subscribe to ALL the Meidas Media Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://pod.link/1510240831 Legal AF: https://pod.link/1580828595 The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://pod.link/1595408601 The Influence Continuum: https://pod.link/1603773245 Kremlin File: https://pod.link/1575837599 Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://pod.link/1530639447 The Weekend Show: https://pod.link/1612691018 The Tony Michaels Podcast: https://pod.link/1561049560 American Psyop: https://pod.link/1652143101 Burn the Boats: https://pod.link/1485464343 Majority 54: https://pod.link/1309354521 Political Beatdown: https://pod.link/1669634407 Lights On with Jessica Denson: https://pod.link/1676844320 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Trump loses another key member of his defense team, especially about Mar-a-Lago.
First it was Evan Corcoran, now Tim Parlator, his lead lawyer, is wait for it, no more.
What does all this infighting on the Trump legal team mean for Trump?
And more importantly for Jack Smith and Justice.
Like Client, like Lawyer, Trump longtime attorney and bumbling fixer Rudy Giuliani used to be America's
mayor.
But a new suit filed under oath by a former female longtime employee claims that Giuliani
is a serial predator, groomer, sex-abuser, racist, and anti-Semite, and she was forced into
a sex relationship.
But that's not even the bombshell.
Plaintiff Noel Duffy swears under oath in her suit that she may have incriminating
texts involving Fox News and the Trumps attention smartmatic and that Giuliani confessed
to her that he was running a presidential pardons for sale scheme for $2 million of pop
to be split with Trump attention Jack Smith.
Finally, it looks like former first daughter Ivanka Trump and disgraced and recently jailed
Trump's CFO, Alan Weiselberg, are in the New York Attorney General's crosshairs.
They had until Monday to file sworn affidavits about why emails and documents are still missing
in the New York Attorney General $250 million fraud suit.
Did they comply or are they in contempt again?
Well, Alan Weiselberg, give a deposition now that he's out of jail.
All this on this
week's edition of the midweek legal AF only on the Midas Touch Network with your regular
co-anchors Michael Popeye and Karen Friedman, Agniphello, Karen we're in the same time zone
we're together. It's just you and me and all of our listeners and followers. I'm so glad to see you.
and all of our listeners and followers, I'm so glad to see you.
It's good to be back. It's great to be back.
Yes.
I agree.
We're learning where all the mute buttons are and all of that.
Let's jump right in.
Everybody's, everybody loves the show, I think, and we, we hit the ground running, like right away.
You know, we don't, we don't sit around and talk about, you know, although I think your trip was great.
And I want to talk about it offline, but we don't talk about those kind of things. We get right into it.
Tim Parletor, who you me and Ben just last week when we were on, you know,
on assignment outside of the country in different places, I think Ben was in New York,
we talked about Tim Parletor. For those that don't know,
Trump has had a reasonably stable group of lawyers for at least a year
for many of his things involving Mar-a-Lago and Jim trusty who used to work with Jack Smith
in the US in the Department of Justice back in the day. Tim Parletor is also one of his
lawyers. Evan Corcoran for a long time for all things Mar-a-Lago.
And then one by one, everybody's sort of departing.
Evan Corcoran testifies before the grand jury,
stripped of all attorney, client, privilege,
and then he's gotta go because he's probably
a target of Jack Smith's Mar-a-Lago investigation
for all the potential lies that he told to the
Justice Department, the FBI, about the document steps in, Tim Parletor.
Tim Parletor just last week or last two weeks sent a letter on his firm's letter, Ed,
Tim Parletor law firm to the House Intelligence Committee, telling them, basically, this is the story that they're setting up
for Mar-a-Lago.
It's like a homeowner who leaves a house
and is rushed to leave and just overpacks,
throws too many things in the boxes.
It was helptersceltor and it was a mistake
and it was innocent.
And what's all the kerfuffle?
What's the problem?
Except, a couple days later, Donald Trump went on CNN,
I love that town hall now, went on CNN and said
that it wasn't a mistake and it wasn't a rush
to pack his boxes and that he knew exactly
what was in those boxes and he purposely took them
and he had the right to take them and show them
to other people and show off his top secret momentos that he took with them out out the door completely
blowing a hole in what I guess was a working attempt at having a defense in the case now
that he now the Trump admits to the crime and within a week Tim Barley door said listen
this is my artist rendering.
I've had enough and I'm heading out the door.
Now, of course, out the door for anything in Trump world
means let me bash the Justice Department.
Let me say that their investigation is corrupt
and all of that.
Tim Parlator had a very interesting thing happen in December.
He went into the grand jury,
but he still had his attorney client privilege that wasn't stripped away yet by Jack Smith
And he testified and then it came out all a lot of bravado and said oh, I just gave it to the grand jury
I told them there's no obstruction we did everything right and and
And then the government tried to get me to wave my attorney glider bridge and I wouldn't do that that
Tim Parletor I want to hear from Karen,
prosecutor, two things.
And then you take it from there.
One is, we keep saying we're on the two, three,
one yard line of this football field
of Mar-a-Lago prosecution, with Evan Corcoron
having gone in and we already heard from Mike Pence.
And now we got Tim Parletor on the way out.
Where do you think we are?
Is the indictment coming in if so when and what do you think it means if anything, the Tim
Parletor quit today, the Trump Mar-a-Lago defense team?
Look, you know, the only defense in this case, I think, potentially, is the one Parletor
was putting forth, which is it was an accident. We packed up boxes
and things got caught in there. Look, it happened to Joe Biden. It happened to Mike Pence. It happened
to, you know, everybody does it, right? It's everybody packs it up and didn't realize that these
documents were in the boxes that they packed up. And so that's really the only potential defense
he has there. I still
think that wouldn't necessarily fly in the end because there was so much back and forth between
the national archives requesting certain documents and Trump through his lawyers about
giving things that things they knew existed
and had not received.
And I think there's a potential obstruction charge there
as a result.
And so the only real defense though to me is there's an accident.
But I think really what Trump is doing is he's saying,
no, I don't want that to be the defense
because that's a really tough,
that the accident, it was an accident defense,
doesn't fly with the obstruction charge, right?
Because it's one thing to have the stuff and not realize it.
But once you realize it and you lie and you lie to people who are asking for it back,
then you have the potential obstruction charge.
And I think the reason Trump is going with this other defense now, I could take it, it's
mine, I could do what I want with it,
it's because then that's the only way to fight back
any charge of obstruction,
that because really if it really is his,
which it's not, then he could,
then there's no case there, they don't have a right to it.
So I think, it looks to me like Parlatore just said,
I'm out, and I think that happens with lawyers, I'm sure it's to me like, Parlatore just said, you know, I'm out. Like, this is, and I think that happens with lawyers.
I'm sure it's happened to you, Popoq,
where you have a client who wants you to do something different
than your better judgment.
And at the end of the day, what you say to the client
is then, you know, I'm not your lawyer.
Like, you're either, you either want me to, you know,
give you my advice or you don't want my advice
and you want to do your own thing because and you want to do your own thing because
if you want to do your own thing, then you should, I'm not just a mouthpiece, I'm not just
a puppet.
So, that's what it looks like to me.
I agree with you that that's probably why he resigned today.
And just to answer your first question of where are we, look, at this point, your guess
is as good as mine.
I've been fairly loudly saying lately
that it's time to bring this case
that you can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good
at a certain point because of the unique situation
that we are in, meaning that the 2024 primaries
are right around the corner,
and Trump looks like he's going to be the candidate
at a certain point just by their own department of justice policy, they're not going to be able to bring
a case because it could impact an election and their own policy says you can't do that.
So, you know, they got to do it and you have to make a choice.
You know, we've discussed this before that that I think it was even last week where we
talked about how, you know, Alvin Bragg could have waited
until he had everything.
You know, he could have waited until he had the case that he brought involving Stormy Daniels
and waited until he could bring the other case, you know, the asset valuation case, the
one where the two prosecutors noisily resigned and it's the companion to the Tish James
$258 million civil suit, but you know
prosecutors know that you can't always necessarily wrap everything in a bow and get it all perfect
Sometimes you got to like you got a case you make it you bring it, you know another example of that I think is is
You know where Eastern District brought a case against George Santos
You know there's only what 13 different charges in that I think something like that a little more than a dozen is where Eastern District brought a case against George Santos.
There's only what, 13 different charges in that, I think,
something like that a little more than a dozen.
His life, I mean, I think they're going to supersede that 10 times over it.
His life is a giant lie.
You're going to have a hundred counting indictment when you're done with him.
But at a certain point, you just got to bring the case, right?
You have to. You've got to bring the case.
And you've got to start it because
you know that sometimes it's important, you know, the rule of law is important and upholding the
rule of law and you know justice is important. And so I think Jack Smith has a case, it's ready to go.
You know, maybe he's in the process of getting the approval or you know whatever he has to get
from Merrick Garland.
But I think we could see it any minute now.
And frankly, we should because if we don't, it's going to be too late.
Yeah, so a couple of things, and we've got some breaking news that we'll do right now,
right on this very issue, to kind of prove your point, Karen.
We've got a, let's start with the truth social posting by Trump in which he doubles down
on his, I'm allowed to take it to avoid obstruction, which is completely inconsistent with what
is own lawyer, the now departed Tim Parletor sent in to Congress in a public letter.
So we've got that.
The second bit of breaking news is that CNN is reporting that the National Archives,
which is at the heart, of course, as a primary actor in everything, Mar-a-Lago, is set to hand
over to special counsel Jack Smith, at least 16 records showing that Trump and his closest
at presidential advisors were instructed about how to correctly declassify documents and what that declassification process would look like, which goes to notice
willful intent, mens rea, and criminal mind. And so that's going to end up in Jackson Smith.
It's hard to believe he didn't have that already, but
the reporting is he's getting it. He's getting it right now. And so then we don't freak everybody out.
The 60-day rule that Karen touched on is that within 60 days of an election, the Department of Justice will
back off of their ongoing investigation, not drop it, just put a pin in it and pick up with
it after the election. We're not in that box yet because that election is more than, of course,
60 days. And we're more than, you know, if the, if we're midterm season
is, sorry, a primary season is 2024, you know, we got seven or eight months, but we got
seven or eight months. Let's get it off the ground. We'll never, look, of all the things
that he's going to be indicted for Donald Trump and those around him, all his cronies around
him. We now know he's not going to get convicted of these things in time for the election, but
he will be hopefully indicted and charged, whether it's Fawni wellis or it's Jack Smith.
Let me just disabuse anybody if people haven't been following a calendar.
They're not going to be able to cram an indictment and a trial in before the election.
So he's going to be at worst and a multiple indicted candidate at the federal and double state level before.
And if that doesn't influence his people's decision making on Udavote 4, then, you know, then
shame on them.
I think it does.
I think not that we shouldn't worry.
We should always worry.
And, you know, we have a candidate that we like a lot but has his own issues with
the general electorate.
But in terms of this one, if people, my view, Michael Popox view, he got 7 million less
votes than Joe Biden last time.
If anybody thinks he's going to do better with women, independence, and others who are
sitting on the fence that he did last time, he'll do the same with the MAGA. He'll do the same with the, you know,
Kool-Aid drinking, right-winged drumpers
who's entire emotional and political lives
are tied to Donald Trump.
But the rest of thinking America
and those who are really independent
and women after dobs and him doubling down recently
on the dogs decision.
I just don't see how he possibly wins national office.
I don't know if the only thing that's holding Joe Biden back is his age.
I think that rock paper scissor overcomes, you know, multiple indicted Donald Trump.
But that's me.
Let me throw one thing out at you, Karen, and then we'll move on to the next segment.
ParliTour has also been very, very vocal about critiquing others on the legal team for Donald Trump.
So it wasn't just us going after Joe Takapino, or as I like to call him, the coloring book,
man, it always looks like he's doodling in a coloring book
at the council table.
Tim Parletor was asked about Joe Takapino.
He's been quite public,
probably more so than Donald Trump would like,
in saying that he did not think
that Joe Takapino covered himself,
is covering himself with any glory
in the Manhattan DA's 34 count
in tight-man-related stormy Daniels.
And all of those issues.
And I'm sure he didn't think that that Joe Takapina did very well in trying to defend
Donald Trump.
If that's what that was in the E. Jean Carroll case, I don't think anybody could.
So look, you know, when when Trump gets falls out of love with his lawyers, they either
get fired or banished.
He fell in love with Chris Keiss. Paid $3 million through a save America back,
Chris Keiss showed up for a much fanfare.
He did something wrong, probably telling the truth
in court one day and Trump banished him to another state.
You know, Tim Parletor going after somebody
that apparently, Joe, Donald Trump likes a lot
for whatever reason, Joe Takapina looks like a banished him.
He likes Alina Haba.
He holds closely, and you can fill in the jokes there.
He holds closely the people that he's enamored with
for whatever reason.
And he cuts loose, reasonably competent lawyers
that could probably help him in some way.
And I think that's great for Jack Smith, because I'll tell you what what Jack Smith legal
team and the Trump legal team do not have in common is talent, continuity, focus, devotion
to cause.
That's the Department of Justice.
That's Jack Smith special counsel team that he's assembled. That's what is
You know, they are just sawing and cutting wood cutting lumber every day
Stacking it up and coming back and doing it again and that's not what Donald Trump has and he's got disarray
He's got inconsistent position taking. He's got lawyers backbiting on his own group
inconsistent position taking, he's got lawyers backbiting on his own group. This is not what proper criminal defense is made of, and that's a good thing. Karen, anything else on that point?
One more, one more move on. Yeah, no, it's, I agree with you about the lawyers. And he,
he really likes, I think because his, one of Trump's major strategies is to disrupt.
He doesn't want to have a real trial on the merits.
He wants to try to blow up the case and somehow get people to do things that will blow up the
case, delay the case, do his bidding.
So it's a way of just not having it be seen on the merits because Because once that happens, he'll be found liable
like he was in the E. Jean Carroll case.
So, you know, it's, I think you're right about that.
I think Jim Parlator is a more serious lawyer
than some of the lawyers that have been on his case,
but he's gone of, you know, the way that many
of the lawyers have gone.
So, you know, to be continued. But Jack Smith, who, as everyone knows, I used to work with and I
know him, he's extraordinary.
He's excellent.
He's a case maker.
He knows what he's doing.
And he is clearly in the final stages of this.
So we could see an indictment, I think, any, you know, anytime. And hopefully
it'll be quite soon. And hopefully in time for a bit, we could
listen to legal AF and the next second bit, we're going to talk, Karen and I are going to
talk about Rudy Giuliani and the bombshell that was buried inside of Noel Dumfies sworn
under oath complaint filed in New York State Supreme Court
just a day or so ago.
We're going to cover all that.
What it means for Rudy, what it means for Trump, what it means for Fox, afterward from
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You caught everybody caught me looking at myself for those that watch us on YouTube only on
the minus touch network. Oh, it's time for Rudy.
God, you know, just as a personal aside, maybe I should mention this. All right, well, I
occasionally smoke a cigar for those that, and I know I'm going to get a whole bunch of tweets and
and others so commentary about it, but you know, it's like once a month, but I, I'm a member of a,
of a cigar place in Manhattan, who occasionally is visited by one Rudy Giuliani.
So I have rubbed elbows with him, but I've never spoken to him at this place,
but another member of the club is also Al Sharpton.
So talk about tobacco makes strange bedfellows. Those two guys are often in the same place
at the same time, and they're not the same person.
I was talking about Rudy
because he's in a whole lot of hot water.
If everything Noel Dunphy,
his longtime former business development manager,
if that's what he called her,
for the law firm of his, his lobby law firm,
is telling the truth and I've no reason to believe
that she's not.
She signed a verified bleeding under penalty of burgery
that it was 70 pages, 244 paragraphs, sex, lies,
and audio tapes.
This complaint has it all.
She's been, she claims she's been recording Rudy Giuliani
for years.
She has all of his text messages,
which are here some right now that have been re,
thank you, Salty, that have been reproduced by the complaint itself. And, you know, it's funny, Karen, when I heard about this story,
I thought, this is like right out of Borat, when in the second Borat, he thinks, oh, here it is,
this is from the complaint, this is not salty going to get a clip from Borat. No, I'll put this clip
into this picture still into the complaint to say, is exactly what he did to her now. This is a scene where in Borat
Giuliani not in on the joke doesn't know there's a camera thinks he's going into the bedroom with somebody who identifies as a reporter
It's really Borat's daughter in the movie and starts to, well,
you can see what he's doing in the picture of this hand down his pants.
She says that's, that's common.
She also says he forced her to wear nothing at all at work, nude, wear a bikini with the
American flag on it while she worked for him.
But that's not even the bombshell, Karen.
Tell her, I did a hot take on it, but tell everybody buried on paragraphs
96 and 132, I believe.
My takeaway is that is the lead.
It's talking about burying the lead inside of your complaint.
What you pick up from those two paragraphs and anything else that you read that made
that was revolting and disgusting.
Yeah.
So what you're referring to is that basically Giuliani was according
to Ms. Dumpi. Giuliani was selling pardons for $2 million and he and Trump would split
the money. So it was very interesting to see that in there. It's not the first time
we've heard about about this and about him doing this, but I think it's he certainly it's clear
just told her and said this to her whether that will be borne out by the
evidence in the matter we'll see but it's clear that that's at least what he was
saying to her at the time. So we'll see you know like I said this is it's
interesting because he was a lobbyist and there are plenty of people who bring people to,
they lobby the people who can give pardons whether it's the governor in a state or the president
suggestions about people who should be pardoned and then they get paid sometimes to put together
these packets about the individual to say what it is and why it is that they should be pardoned.
And so when it crosses the line into criminal activity is definitely something, you know, that is murky because it's not inappropriate.
For example, say a lawyer, you know, Giuliani was a lawyer, was a lawyer, you know, to work to try to pardon people and pardon his clients.
What's criminal though is that he's selling them and splitting the money with Trump.
If that turns out to be the case, then that's, you know, that's that's bribery on the part
of Giuliani and obviously Trump as well would be receiving bribes.
And so I think that's, if that has any merit to it actually
happening, I think they're both in deep trouble,
who that would be extremely, extremely troubling.
You know, like this lawsuit was really sad.
I felt sorry for her, you know, because it's not just
that she was working for him and he was forcing
her to have sex with him.
And, you know, the story is one of an age old power dynamic story where a powerful man
takes advantage of a woman who doesn't have a lot of options.
And she's a very successful woman.
She went to an Ivy League school.
She worked for many decades as a very successful business person.
But she was the victim of domestic violence with her ex.
And she had a court case involving him.
And she couldn't afford, she didn't have a lawyer.
And she couldn't afford the kind of lawyer that she needed.
And he came with a lot of cash, he used to be America's mayor, he's powerful, he's
Trump's personal lawyer, and he said, come work for me, I'll pay you a million dollars,
that's money that's hard to refuse, and I'll represent you in your domestic violence case,
in your abusive ex-husband case for free.
And, you know, that's the kind of offer that is when you're vulnerable emotionally,
the way she was, because of her situation with her ex and involved in this legal case,
and she's working for someone like Giuliani who at the time was much more,
you know, the power dynamic is, you know, he's much more powerful than she.
It's really tricky, and he starts almost immediately, you know, with this classic sexual harassment,
you know, and then turns into sexual assault where he required her to perform
sex acts in order for him to keep representing her civilly and doing her job. And, you know,
and when you're, you know, and she explained, I think that she was also her mind was vulnerable
because of the state she was in. And she wasn't, you know, thinking clearly about what
her options were and she felt trapped. And so it't thinking clearly about what her options were. And she felt trapped.
And it's just really sad.
He kept stringing her along and it pay her.
He said, I can't pay you on the books,
because I'm in the middle of some huge divorce.
And I want to hide money from my soon-to-be ex-wife.
I don't want her to know.
And so I'll pay you in the future.
So he didn't pay her what he owed her.
He would give her drips and drabs of cash here and there.
But he didn't pay her what he owed her.
So it's wage theft allegations as well.
And a lot of this was on tape
because he gave her permission to record.
And I think it was because they were gonna write a book
or he wanted to write a book.
Sometimes he would press the record button himself on her phone. So a lot of what he said was at his own,
I mean, he knew he was being recorded. It didn't seem like it was stuartitious. And they indicated in there in the complaint when
certain statements were recorded, you know, interestingly too. She said some pretty, you know,
she said he was, he's
an alcoholic, he's a functioning alcoholic, they drink constantly morning, noon, and night
and she had to provide him with alcohol. She said he took a Viagra constantly. And, you
know, he, at one point, you know, just would say things that were sexist and racist and
anti-semitic and that's all recorded. She. So it was very traumatizing and very difficult for her and it read like that to me.
It read like it was a really traumatized by what he did.
And she said he would obsessively call her sometimes 50 times a day.
He was really into BDSM, you know, the, and, and like violent language and, and he, like, he was
obsessed with the woman on billions who, you know, was into BDSM and would wear like black leather.
And, you know, just stuff like that. And, you know, this is a woman who's trying to have a job,
you know, and have some lawyer represent her in, you know, in a case that she has. And, you know,
he takes advantage of her. So I don't know.
The lawsuit was just really, like I said, red like,
I think it's absolutely happened.
It read like very precise language with proof
in addition to being under oath.
And I think that he's in big trouble when it comes to this.
Again, it's just civil, but I think it definitely,
it'll be very interesting to see what,
as a result of this lawsuit,
whether she gets subpoenaed by Jack Smith to,
yeah, go ahead.
Yeah, or by Fox, because she purposely put a little invitation for Fox, and I'll offer
our assistant for smartmatic against Fox in their defamation case, because she said that
Rudy Giuliani didn't have her son-of-confidentiality agreement or a non-disclosure agreement.
She's not a lawyer, so there's no attorney-aturning, client relationship privilege issues, and
she said she was privy. And I assume this also
means she has copies of emails and texts involving Rupert Murdoch, Donald Trump, Don Jr., Ivanka,
Eric Tucker Carlson, and Sean Hannity, Kellyanne Conway, and for, I'm not making this up. And for
good measure, Bob Castello, Bob Castello, he just keeps popping up like a bad penny.
Bob Castello testified against Michael Cohen in the Manhattan DA's grand jury. He said he
represented Michael Cohen at one time, and he popped up a couple of weeks ago when the suit
sort of was out there. I think she originally filed it on her own with that lawyer.
And Castello said, I'm the lawyer of Virginia. We've read this and it's completely nonsense
and that's why there's no lawyer involved
and that's why she couldn't find a lawyer
because it's all defamatory and untrue.
Then she found a really good law firm
and she signed it under oath and she refiled it.
So, and she says she has texts and emails
involving that lawyer, Bob Castello.
So we're gonna follow this very, very closely.
There's one other.
We know the, yeah. Before you move on to the subject, because I can tell you that's what you're doing,
because I've been with you now long enough to know.
I'm going to do everything, but no, I'll get you.
The one thing that really bothered me about this complaint also is I couldn't help but think
Julianne is going to love it.
He's going to love this complaint to him.
It will read, like, how old is he? He's gonna love this complaint to him. It will read like he's, you know, how old is he? Like he's, you know, old.
And he's gonna be like, you know, it's a fact
that he has this young, hot woman, you know,
blowing him every day and having sex with him
and all the things, you know.
Fancy.
What?
Nothing.
It's an adult channel, we're fine.
I mean, I don't know, it's just, but it's like,
I just couldn't help it like think
He's gonna read this and think this is you know, he's gonna feel all like
He's disgusting
He's disgusting. Okay, one one last thing on this one or one last thing for me. Although he yeah gone
No, it is that and I love the fact in this 25 count suit, they not only get him for gender violence, New York law,
sexual abuse, sexual battery, sexual assault,
and all the things that relate to sex,
hostile work environment, and all that.
But for good measure, a violation of New York's wage
and hour law, because she was underpaid,
and sometimes worked off the books it wasn't paid.
That gives them attorney's fees and costs in a way that the other ones doesn't.
And they nailed them even, I guess this is when he still had his law license because
it's suspended in the state of New York.
But she says she also went to him for counseling.
As you said earlier, Karen, for a case of hers and he let the statute of limitations run,
breaching his fiduciary duties to her, causing her more damage.
So she threw the kitchen, the kitchen sink, and everything else she had at him, which is
what you're supposed to do if you're bringing a suit of this type.
And we should all be ready, managing expectations for the playbook to be run against her.
First part of it, Karen touched on, which is, look at me, I'm an old ram,
and I got this young, whatever,
and which is disgusting.
The second is she's unstable.
She had a, like Karen said earlier,
she had a prior one like that.
She sued somebody else for money in the past,
and this and that, like who cares?
I mean, if she's been victimized by more than one person
in her life, it doesn't mean the second one gets a free pass.
You know and as Karen act as you accurately describe Karen.
That made her vulnerable whatever happened to her in her past and who praise on vulnerable women somebody like Rudy Giuliani.
who's the predator. Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator?
Who's the predator? Who's the predator? Who's the predator?'s Rudy Giuliani and what's the nestled inside of that lawsuit
is some interesting stuff that we're going to have to see what the prosecutors do with
it.
Yeah, you know, the prosecutor, the other prosecutor, the Manhattan D.A.'s office, they
could look at this. They could be looking at this or they could look at this. And in
fact, they should, you know, when I was there, we created something called the work-related sexual violence unit
because it was to acknowledge the power dynamic in work-related situations, the power dynamic
between someone who's your boss and controls your salary and controls your paycheck and controls everything
and how they use that against you. So I wouldn't be surprised if the Manhattan D.A.'s office
doesn't at least look at this
and talk to her. That's a great option. You only hear that of the Midestetch Network. Karen,
Friedman, Ike, Nifalo, former number two ran operations at the Manhattan DA's office saying,
hey, Manhattan DA's office, take a look at that complaint and mine it for possible
prosecutions that you yourself can do. We're gonna cover a whole lot more including
Ivanka and the rest of the Trumps being in hot water
again with Judge and Goran in the New York State
Supreme Court trial level court in the $250 million
civil fraud case brought by the New York Attorney General
because almost a year to the day that they were found
in contempt and fined $110,000 last May,
I feel like we just play the old tapes from like last year.
They're gonna do it again,
because they fail to produce emails
and the judges are happy about it.
We're gonna talk about it in the next segment,
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no risk to week trial at try gnome.com slash legal a f spelled try n o m dot com slash legal
a f for 50% off try gnome.com slash legal a f. And we're back. That's a quick one. Let's
talk about we've got two things. I want you to catch us up on.
Ivanka Trump, New York Attorney General telling the court,
where are the emails?
Why are there no more Ivanka Trump emails between 2014 and 2017?
Where'd they all go?
There used to be thousands of them a month now.
There's down to like 10 a month.
What happened to them?
Why haven't they been produced?
And where is the affidavits?
I'll tell you, I don't know if you had a chance to check.
I'll do it after you comment, Karen.
I checked the docket just an hour ago
about whether they met their deadline of the 15th of May
to file affidavits sworn under penalty of perjury
about those missing documents.
And then we've got, welcome home, Ellen Weiselberg
and your five and a half months stint in Rikers Island because Manhattan, Diaz, all of this carrots,
old office, put you there.
Now that you're out, you're very popular.
And one thing that you're going to do with your new lawyer that you just picked
is you're going to give a deposition in the civil case against Donald Trump
under oath. And, you know, maybe you'll take the Fifth Amendment, Karen,
you can comment on that and maybe you won't, but you're going to be deposed because the judge just said you would. Karen what do you think
about what's going on there? What are the Trumps doing again in there in screwing up in front of this
judge and what do you think is going to happen without why so Berk and the Fifth Amendment?
Yeah I think Ivanka is clearly we've seen tried to distance herself from her family in this entire proceeding.
She hired her own lawyer instead of the lawyer with everybody else.
She's noticeably absent in places where she would have been seen before.
But I do think it's interesting that she is specifically being called out by the New York Attorney General for her failure to comply
with the proceedings.
They basically, in April, the Attorney General wrote to the judge and Goron saying that
the defendants haven't handed over the necessary information and documents as part of the
discovery process in a timely, transparent fashion.
As you said, there was this unexplained drop-off in emails
for Ivanka between 2014 and 2017.
So for example, they cite in there,
it went from over 1,000 emails per month, sorry,
to, I think it was like 1,200 emails per month,
to 299 emails per month.
And then in 2016 to 37 emails per month and in response, you know,
in Goron set the Trump family deadline to hand over all these outstanding requested documents
by May 15th or to submit some kind of compliance affidavit that they complied with their legal
observation.
So what it seems to me is happening is there could
be a legitimate reason why the emails have, you know, trailed off if it turns out that she no longer
work there or she stopped using email or something. But it seems like the attorney general's office
thinks there's something else going on because you know they they insist that there
must be something there or explain given explanation why and they're just not doing it. So I'm what do
you think popo is going on? I don't I don't know they're getting I you know the lawyers again look to
the lawyers. I mean Alina Habba has been the lawyer here. We know that her judgment is questionable.
I mean, that's the number one thing you need in a lawyer.
Besides talent is judgment and her judgment has always been impaired.
And I think she just likes, she thinks there's my age to be mad
and they're willing to pay the 100,000 or 200,000 or whatever the ultimate
contempt find is going to be for screwing around with judge and go on
and try to destabilize the proceedings. ultimate, contempt find is going to be for screwing around with judge and gore on and trying
to destabilize the proceedings.
But because I checked today and there's nothing on the docket and they missed their deadline,
I'm sure we'll see or or or I'll just one caveat.
The clerk's office might be backed up in posting to the docket, but I don't think so.
And then you know, you're going to see letitian James move for sanctions and judge and gore
on saying,
I'm gonna charge you $100,000 a day or $10,000 a day
until you comply.
But I don't know why, for instance,
as you said, Ivanka has her own council now.
She finally in the last couple of months,
and I had thought, talk about,
as Ben likes to call it, a rake stepping.
I thought she started to separate herself in a way
that gave her some ability to negotiate her own situation,
her own deal with the New York Attorney General
because we reported on legal AF.
We always say we have new people watching
and listening today,
but we have people that have been with us for two years
or more, and this is cumulative education.
Although I like to think it's, it's episodic.
You can, you can tune in and you'll learn something new today.
You don't have to know what we taught in prior legal AF Academy, but we did talk about
that she got new counsel and she cut a deal to get out from under the financial monitor,
a former federal judge, Barbara Jones, that was appointed by Judge Angora
over all things financial at the Trump organization
during the dependency of the case
to make sure that the money's in
and the money's out all match and are appropriate.
And asset transfer doesn't happen.
She got out from under that.
She said, oh, I was really there.
I was really gone in 2017.
I'm a mom living in Florida now.
And the judge, because the New York Attorney General
allowed it, let her out from under that monitoring requirement. And then we heard she got new lawyers,
we're like, oh, new lawyers. I at one point, I did a hot take. I thought she was flipping.
Although, maybe she's flipping on the father. Maybe she's tired of being girlfriend daughter.
Finally, wants to pay back the old man. But now now this would be the perfect moment for her lawyers.
The new lawyers have stepped forward
and do something different than Alina Haba and crew
and do what the judge said that they're supposed to do.
Turn over the documents.
Now she may not be in control of those emails any longer.
She's, you know, when you leave,
you're talking about 10 year old, five, six, seven year old emails.
You know, when you leave,
it's not like you're able to access your old email account if you've left the company.
So a lot of that's still in the hands of the Trump organization.
And then Al Wyserberg, what do you think about Al Wyserberg and him about what he can take
the Fifth Amendment concerning and what he can't?
He couldn't take it about the stuff that he was already given a deal for, right?
Right.
But it was, don't forget, he was given a deal
for a very specific, you know,
very specific charges involving very specific conduct
on certain dates, et cetera.
So anything that was not charged,
unless the plea agreement says otherwise
and I just don't recall off the top of my head right now,
if we ever saw the plea agreement, otherwise, and I just don't recall off the top of my head right now, if we ever saw the plea agreement.
For some reason, I don't think we did.
I think there is a plea agreement,
but I don't think we ever saw it.
So whatever's in there is, I think, free game
because he's already pled guilty to it,
but it's interesting.
It'll be, he'll have to talk about other things
unless he takes the fifth.
I do think he's potentially still liable for, you know,
I don't think he's off the hook completely
with the Manhattan D.A.'s office.
I think there's still other possible charges
they could bring against him in another case,
especially the case that involved the criminal companion matter to the $250 million
suit, the asset valuation case. So we'll see.
So here's the, here's the, I happen to pull up the Manhattan DA's own website. And here's
how they reported the plea deal.
Myselberg pled guilty to 15 charges contained in the indictment that he engaged
in the scheme to defraud together
with Trump Corporation and Trump payroll,
implicating them in the criminal charges.
The court promised Weisselberg a sentence of five months
in jail to be served in Rikers Island,
five years probation, provided contingent
on Weisselberg testifying truthfully
in the upcoming criminal trial
of the Trump Organization by providing truthful testimony as the facts underlying his
allocation and plea.
He must make full repayment of taxes, penalties and interest to New York City and New
York State Taxing Authorities of almost $2 million.
He shall abide by the conditions of his release and he pled guilty to those 15 counts of false business records.
Also at the heart of the story, Daniel's case, of course, criminal tax fraud, scheme to defraud, all the things about the
monies that he was paid under the table related to tuition for his grandchildren, the rent on his apartment,
the cars that he was given, all tax-free to him because it wasn't properly reported and falsified by the
Trump Organization. So that stuff is he's not going to be able to, he's not going to be able to
take the fifth because he already got prosecuted for that and served this time. Now what if she starts
going into which you will? Let's talk about loan fraud. Let's talk about asset fraud, where you lied about the appraised value in order to secure
a larger loan, the harder the New York Attorney General case.
Let's talk about what you told Zurich insurance and what Ivanka told Zurich insurance
in order to secure a loan about the value of an asset, which is a made up number, not
based on an independent appraisal. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about deflation of loan value in order to save on taxes.
So if you're Alan Weiss, the birch lawyer, Karen, what do you do when those questions come up? He
hasn't been indicted for those and he hasn't been prosecuted in the Manhattan DA's office is still
out there. What do you do? Well, don't forget there's also potential federal charges, right?
I mean federal tax, you know crimes and others so he could still take and and and there's no double jeopardy
From if he's convicted in the state. There's no double jeopardy meaning you can't be tried for the same thing twice
Federal to state only state to federal so the feds could still bring a case
only state to federal. So the feds could still bring a case, even similar charges to this. So he's still facing potential federal exposure. Certainly he could he could assert that if
he wanted to take the.
So he's going to take the walk down Fifth Avenue, you think?
You know, I do think so. I don't I think he's still very close to the Trumps. And I don't
think he wants to do anything that helps any civil or criminal case
unless he absolutely has to.
He was squeezed pretty hard in the Manhattan D.A.'s case
because he was charged and he didn't have a choice.
So in that case, yeah, go on.
No, no, no, I'm just gonna say,
just why don't you remind everybody
what happens in a civil case
when a witness takes the Fifth Amendment
against self-incrimination?
Yeah, well, if you are one of the civil defendants in that case, then that can be used against
you at the civil trial.
There's a jury instruction that will say, you can actually absolutely hold that against the person as consciousness
of guilt, you know, and you can use it against them in the civil proceeding, which is very
different than a criminal proceeding, right?
In the criminal proceeding, you can't factor that in.
I think I haven't seen the case caption in a while.
I'm reasonably certain, subject to to my research that Al-Au
Siburg is one of the 17 or 18 people that is a defendant in the New York Attorney General's case.
So he's not just a witness. He's a hair club member. He's also a defendant in the case. So yes,
if he takes the fifth, just like Donald Trump had taken the fifth originally, the de Jury, exactly what Karen said, we've given that instruction.
And it's used against him.
It's as if effectively he admitted to whatever she's asked them about.
So, you know, but that's what you do.
I mean, there's a reason she wants it, a Latisha James, the New York Attorney General,
for this very reason.
He's, he, but he's going to have to make his choice.
And I'm sure his lawyer, whoever's new lawyer, is that didn't follow who that was. I knew the old lawyer, but the new lawyer
I didn't follow who he finally retained is probably going to tell him. You got to take
the fifth because there's too many prosecutors out there that you'll be a pelt on their
wall. And you don't worry about the civil side as much. I'm sure he's indemnified, by the
way, for certain of these things. And if he's hit, let's say a jury comes back,
$250 million judgment against all 17 of these people.
You know, it'll probably be jointly and severally,
meaning they can go after all or one of them
to collect the money until they finally collect all the money.
And you know where they're gonna start?
They're gonna start the Trump organization,
the Trump himself.
All of Trump's personal property is planes, his boats, his cars, the Trump, Trump himself, all of Trump's personal property is planes, his,
his boats, his cars, his apartments, his, you know, everything where he's got tangible
and intangible assets.
And then finally, they'll make their, if they don't get the 250, they'll make their way,
they'll make their way down the chain to lowly, um, aloe wiselberg.
So I think he'll, I agree with you.
I think he takes the fifth.
Yeah, and I think, yeah, I think, yeah, no, just prosecutors, I think are
hoping that he doesn't want to go back to jail. He had a taste of jail, right?
He had a taste of Breaker's Island. Literally.
And so I think I think they're hoping he's right for cooperation or targeting
because they hope he doesn't want to go back and maybe he'll give more.
So we'll see, we'll see where that goes.
One more thing though, before we end the episode, Giuliani going back to him, he was hit with
another lawsuit this week, which when I saw it, I thought, that looks familiar.
I remember that case.
You remember the case, I think it was a year ago, when he was in
like a grocery store in Staten Island or shop right, yeah, in Staten Island. And yeah,
it was like, that's familiar. I've seen that before, where he claimed that he was hit
by somebody in the store. I think it was an employee. And he, you know and he claims that the guy hit him, he calls the cops, he has the cops
arrest him, and the guy spends the night in jail and it turns out it was all made up.
It wasn't hit by the guy or punched or whatever he said.
I think he was some pretty strong language, it felt like an explosion or I can't remember
what exactly what he said.
But it was like, oh yeah, he said, he felt like he was shot.
You know, that's how strong it was.
You know, Mr. Vigoris that he's going to try to say with his, you know,
rapesexual prowess, disgusting, you know, he claimed he was shot.
You know, well, guess what?
Guess what?
Guess what the video shows?
The video shows you were tapped on the back, old man, you know, and that's it.
And this is a false arrest. And so the guy was let go. And he is now bringing a civil
suit against him because he's kind of outrageous. You lie. I think God things are on video now.
And thank God there's so many, so many things that can be proven on, on video, it's so ubiquitous because you can stop people like Rudy Giuliani
who use their power to lie.
Their power and influence.
That's just another example where the cops, you know, they show up at Staten Island, he's
Rudy Giuliani.
Who's going to question him?
He was the US Attorney for the Southern District.
He was the mayor of New York City, you know.
He was Trump's personal lawyer.
It's using his power and influence again for bad.
Just like he did for Noel Dumpy and just like he did in that case.
So eloquently put, I wish we could cover the Harry and Meghan paparazzi chase today
through Manhattan.
That's so sad.
That's sad.
It ended up with the 19th precinct today, as they were literally being chased
for, they say, for two hours around Manhattan. But that's not our show. It's just sad that
it happened as it's been reported. But we've reached the end of what is our show, which
is sitting at the intersection of law and politics and reporting it to you, balls and strikes with hopefully
is a little bit of entertainment, but teaching you about the law and politically charged lawsuits
as they happen as we curate our stories each week.
We do it on Wednesdays, Karen Friedman, Nifalo.
We do it on Saturdays with Ben Micellis and support our sponsors.
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Well, you know just listening and I what really can't what really helps me is all the positive
remarks that people that they put in the chats or when they come in on the
videos or even on Twitter, it's helpful, you know, not just the positive ones
all of them, you know, criticisms, constructive criticisms, you know, that kind
of stuff, I find it I find it helpful to know what people like and don't like and
and how we can do better and even if it's just thanking us for the time because we all put a lot of time into
this and effort, it kind of keeps you going, you know, because it is a lot of work.
And my favorite one last week went on to look, we need more carrot.
That was the headline on ApplePod.
And I couldn't agree more.
We do need more carrot.
I'm so glad that you're my friend
and my colleague and my podcast anchor and that's the end. We're gonna see everybody Saturday. I'll be
on with Ben Mycelas and the next Wednesday, same time, same channel with Karen Friedmanek Niflo. Good
night everybody. Shout out to the Midas Mighty and the Legal A efforts.
Smiley and the Legal Aephus.