Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Judge Makes BIGGEST ORDER YET Trump TRIED TO STOP

Episode Date: October 18, 2024

In breaking news, Judge Chutkan just denied Trump’s last minute Hail Mary, and is ordering the immediate release of all of the Special Counsel’s supplemental evidence against Trump— witness statements, text messages, emails, and other evidence, proving his guilt in order to ensure that the public has this information before they vote. Michael Popok unpacks it all in his latest hot take. Uplift Desk: Visit https://upliftdesk.com/meidas and get four free accessories, plus an extra discount off your entire order. Join the LegalAF 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 MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial 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 Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Michael Popak, Legal AF. I'm not a hunter, but I think I just heard the sound of a giant steel bear trap snapping on Donald Trump courtesy of DC election interference. Judge Chutkin, I got a new order. And in just hours as a result of it, we are going to all see in the public domain, hundreds of pages of new evidence against Donald Trump in the DC election interference case, not because the prosecutor special counsel,

Jack Smith wanted to do it because he had to do it. And because the judge had to do it to give public access to you and me and the media and not do what Donald Trump asked her to do this morning, which was, can you just delay releasing more evidence against me until about a week or two after the election? And Judge Chutkin said, well, I got factors I have to balance,

including the public's right to know, in the public justice system that you're now a part of, and you're a criminal defendant in, the media's right to know, and I got 21 different media organizations seeking to get their hands on this, and 22 might as touch legal AF. And 22, Midas Touch, Legal AF. And so the judge said, without even waiting to hear

from the Department of Justice, she got a strong arm, put out her arm, their little Heisman moves. She was like, I got this. After Trump filed a ridiculous piece of paper earlier today, we expected Trump to do what he did. He burned through an entire seven days that the judge had given him seven days ago when she said, you have until the 17th of October to do what you

want to do, to explore litigation options, to evaluate litigation options. That was the ridiculous phrase Donald Trump used, which we took as a veiled threat against the judge. The judge with dripping in sarcasm, she a week ago in her order said, I am going to release to the public the entirety of the appendix of all the supplemental evidence against you because I have to, not because I take any special delight in it. But I will give you one week since you raised this issue of evaluating litigation options, go ahead, evaluate your litigation options and get back to me. Now, what we thought was that he was going to try to run off to some appellate court and get a stay and make her stop and not put it on the public docket. Oh my God. He didn't do any of that. I did a hot take the other

day where I said, he hasn't filed anywhere, anything at any time. How is he ever going to get the stay? Instead, he lobbed in one more hand grenade today this morning that we reported on here on the Midas Touch Network, in which he said, well, I think it should be symmetrical. That was the key word. If you allow Jack Smith and the special counsel to have their the key word. And if you allow Jack Smith and the special counsel to have their appendix released without the public seeing our appendix and the voting public and the future jury, that's asymmetrical and that's not appropriate. And the jury should have our side of the story. They should have our appendix. We have an appendix. It was like an appendectomy. We have an appendix and they have an appendix and we should have them go simultaneously,

Judge. That's the only way to prevent election interference. I mean, I was waiting for them to write in their paper MAGA 2024. I mean, it was implicit. It was implied. And the judge got that and I thought, oh, here we go. She was either going to order on her own without waiting or Jack Smith was going to write in and say, are you kidding me? And we now have the order. Now this one is dripping in sarcasm, thankfully. And let me give you the what she's done and then we'll back up into it during the hot take and how she got there.

What she's done is she's rejected Donald Trump's last minute attempt, sarcastically calling it, this is your evaluating litigation options, this piece of paper with no case law, with no analysis whatsoever, denied. And now she's given him only hours. He can't do a thing. She's going to issue a second order. So you'll see a second hot take on Legal AF MTN or here on the Midas Dutch Network in which she's going to order in a separate little minute order. We'll see it. It'll be about this big, be about a paragraph long. She's going to order within hours that the clerk of the court hit the publish button and dump

into the public the filing that Jack Smith made over a week ago with the redactions, with some blackout in it. We're going to see some blackouts, some black pages, some witness names that we'll have to figure out on our own, but it's going into the public and we're going to be doing a dozen hot takes on it's going into the public and we're going to be doing a dozen hot takes on it and analysis on Legal AF and it's going to fuel our new channel, Legal AF MTN, just this one filing. Now, she also said to him in her order, basically, she said a couple of things. One, you didn't evaluate any factors and I have to balance six factors before I can make the decision to exercise my discretion

whether I'm going to stay the release to the public. And you haven't balanced the public's need to know, you haven't properly balanced or evaluated the media, the First Amendment rights need to know, you haven't balanced anything. And this whole asymmetrical thing doesn't make any sense. She said, in fact, it's an oxymoron. Speaking of morons, it's an oxymoron, she wrote in her new order, for Donald Trump to argue that the public's right to know

is enhanced by giving them less information. They're like, but they need hours with theirs, so they have context. She's like, I don't really get, you're saying the public has a right to know, but then you say you wanna give them less and Jack Smith shouldn't deliver to them what's already in the, that's already been filed. Makes no sense. Here's the major policy approach here, policy consideration. We have a public

justice system. Jack Smith already filed 165 pages. He's already referenced the appendix, the world knows about the appendix. You can't keep it from them. There's a right to public access constitutionally under our system of criminal justice, fair and square. So one, the judge is like, you didn't balance the factors at all. Two, this asymmetry thing is an oxymoron. She's probably close to calling him a moron, but she used a more polite term. She said, three, you said that you were going to evaluate litigation options and this is what you file, a request for a stay without any other analysis or case law. Then lastly, she said, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to order the clerk. She could have done it in this one.

She could have done it in this one. She could have done it in this one, but I think she wanted to go home because this came out pretty late. So within hours upon sunrise, she's going to do a little minute order and she's going to instruct the clerk of the court to publish, to take the seal off and publish to the public the entirety of the appendix. I think that's going to be about 400 or 500 pages, 30 pages single spaced of footnotes we've heard and attachments and witness summaries and witness statements and emails and text messages and all sorts of things, some of which we may have known about from the Jan 6 report and the superseding indictment and the 165 pages he filed and some of which we are not, we're gonna be

like whoa they have that? Get ready for the whoa they they have that? Hot take, because that's coming up. I spend most of my day in front of a screen and a microphone. And this used to mean I spent a lot of my day sitting. The research on sitting for long periods has been linked with various conditions such as poor heart health, bad posture, diabetes, and the list goes on. This is why I love uplift desk

and their ergonomic desks and chairs. A standing desk can help lower your risk of disease, improve your mood and focus, boost productivity and increase your energy. I use my uplift desk every day. When I'm standing up thinking with a cup of Joe about how to prepare for my next hot take or podcast episode, I'm not staring into space.

It's my most productive ruminating and cogitating me time at my uplift desk. And only when I'm on my feet do my creative juices really start to flow. The option to move while I work promotes better circulation, which can reduce all types of different health risks and repetitive strains. can reduce all types of different health risks and repetitive strains. Uplift Desk helps you build your custom Dream Desk by choosing from over a hundred desktop choices and hundreds of accessories. Their desk configurator lets you build out a complete workstation with storage, seating, wire management. Listen, when I used it, I had my perfect dream standing desk that I've wanted for over 30 years

configured in less than 10 minutes. I had loads of fun configuring my uplift desk, starting with picking my tabletop. I went with a beautiful walnut butcher block, added white legs and storage drawers, wheels for mobility and a number of cool cable management and pop-up and power grommets for my perfect custom uplift desk.

I especially like the different control options and memory settings that puts the desk at just the perfect height for me and lets my wife join in on the productive fun when she visits at the office too. We've got a special deal and it's exclusive to our audience. When you visit our link at upliftdesk.com slash LegalAF, you're going to get four free accessories. Free same-day shipping, free returns with free shipping, and an industry-leading 15-year warranty that covers the entire desk, plus an extra discount off your entire order. That's U-P-L-I-F-T-D-E-S-K.com slash Legal AF for a special offer and it's only available at our link. Work better, live healthier with Uplift Desk. Let me read to you from the act now that I've summarized it, the opinion and order that we

just got. The judge said on page one, defendant's request for time to, quote, evaluate litigation options came upon her, their request, in other words, they requested time to evaluate litigation options and the judge said, I gave you seven days to do that. Now she says, dripping in sarcasm right on page one, the option defendant has evidently chosen is asking the court to extend the stay until November 14th. In other words, that's the litigation option that they've chosen. They've just asked me to give them more time. As the court has explained, there is an important presumption in favor of public access to all facets of criminal court proceedings, citing the Hubbard case from 1980.

And there are six factors that the judge reminded Trump's lawyers they did not evaluate. One, the need for public access to the documents. Two, the extent of previous public access to those documents. Has the public ever seen these before? The answer to that is probably no. Three, the fact that someone has objected to disclosure

and the identity of that person, Trump. Four, the strength of any property and privacy interests asserted, not really. And redaction and putting black marks over things covers the privacy problem. Five, the possibility of prejudice to those opposing disclosure. I mean, her answer to that was,

the jury is gonna be picked a long time from now, maybe six months to a year from now in reality. And which came first, which appendix got fought, theirs or the courts, I mean, or the Jack Smith's, who cares? Nobody's gonna remember that in the public. Oh, I read that back in October of 2024, but I didn't read Trump's response until a month later and therefore, by the way, the judge says in this order, if you want to file

early, file early. You asked for November 14th as an extended period to file your brief and your appendix. You can file it at any time. You don't like my result here. Work all weekend, file it on Monday. Again, the timing of litigation events as a federal litigator, I will tell you, is out of our control. And there is a pace and a timing to them and a velocity to them. And you can't artificially manipulate them. Why don't we have

simultaneous submission of everything in a case? That's just not how it works. So the judge re-emphasizes one of her major factors is the First Amendment right of the public to have access to criminal proceedings and cites a long line of cases on page 2. She then chastises Trump's lawyers on the bottom of 2 and says you didn't evaluate any of these six factors. She says first defendant asserts that releasing the appendix now will poison the jury pool that hasn't even been picked yet, giving potential jurors a skewed one-sided inaccurate picture of this case. She says even on its own terms this is too speculative. Both sides filings will be publicly available and

whether potential jurors in the future will be exposed to either of them and in what order is unknown. And if they are during jury selection, the judge says, you use a process called voir dire where you get to interview each of the prospective jurors and if you think they know too much or they've been corrupted then you bounce them until you pick a fair and impartial jury. Dummy. I mean, the dummy part is mine, but that's what she's saying. Then over to page three, the judge says, and here's one of my favorite, there's like a

number of my favorite parts, but the oxymoron was another one of my favorite parts. Second, defendant argues, page three, that it is essential that the public fully understand the arguments and documents on both sides of this momentous issue and not be misled by one-sided submissions and argues that they would be grievously harmed in this case if that were to happen. And then she says, setting aside the oxymoronic proposition that the public's understanding of this case will be enhanced by withholding information about it, any public debate about the issues in this case has no bearing on the court's resolution of those issues. And she quotes

the Bridges case, legal trials are not like elections to be won through the use of the meeting hall, the radio, or the newspaper." Right? Reminding Trump where he's at. He's not on his campaign trail. He's in a courtroom as a felony criminal defendant. And then she says on page four, as she rounds out her five page decision, page three and four. And indeed, defendant's true concern

does not appear to be with asymmetry, with his own briefing schedule shared, rather his objection is to the appendix release during a quote, highly contested political campaign. But a president's capacity as a candidate for office is unofficial and does not implicate the concerns animating his official immunity. Accordingly, the court has repeatedly stressed that Trump's concern with the political consequences of these proceedings does not bear

on the pretrial schedule. She goes on to say that litigation's incidental effects on politics are not the same as a court's intentional interference with them. As a result, it is in fact defendants requested relief that risks undermining that public interest. In other words, Trump is undermining public interest by not allowing the documents to come into the public right now. If the court withheld information that the public otherwise had a right to access to solely because of the potential political that the public otherwise had a right to access to solely because of the potential political consequences of releasing it, that withholding could itself constitute or appear to be election interference. I love that. Think about that for a minute. Let me reread that for a minute.

She's saying that by not releasing the information, that's election interference, because the public has a right to know if she's artificially withholding what they're entitled to, that's election interference. They have a right to know because of this timing before they vote. And that's what she's saying there. And then lastly, she says, you want to file earlier? You could file earlier.

She says on page three, and in any event, the court is not limiting the public's access to one side. Trump is free to submit his legal arguments and factual proffers his appendix regarding immunity at any time before November 7th deadline. This is simply, quote, how litigation works. Each side presents arguments and proffers evidence on disputed issues in their own time. Snap! Judge Chutkin set a trap a week ago knowing that Donald Trump would not be able to obtain any stay or relief from any appellate court while he was busy evaluating litigation options. She made fun of him and hoisted him on his own petard.

This was your litigation option, to ask me for more time at the last minute without evaluating the factors. What you're really asking me to do is to commit election interference on your behalf. And I'm not doing that. Signed XOXO Chanya Chutkin. And soon within hours of this hot take, we're gonna get the second order, which is just a command order, a minute order from Judge Chutkin

to the clerk of the court telling her, telling the clerk of the court, hit the publish button and put all of the appendix of the special counsel into the public domain and do it now. That's where we're at. And that should satisfy the 21 media organizations that have been trying to get public access to everything in this case, including Midas Touch Network and Legal AF. Thanks for being here.

This is where we do it. We do it on the Midas Touch Network and because we're bursting with energy, we want to spread our wings a little bit at the intersection of law and politics. Come on over to our other channel in collaboration with the Midas Touch Network called, wait for it, Legal AFMTN for Midas Touch Network.

Legal AFMTN, I'm the, what am I calling myself these days? The chief curator. I'm sitting at the intersection of law and politics and bringing it all to you there. We got 225,000 subscribers in 30 days, not because of me, because of you. And I appreciate that. So until my next hot take, until my next Legal AF,

this is Michael Popak and I am reporting. In collaboration with the Midas Touch Network, we just launched the Legal AF YouTube channel. Help us build this pro-democracy channel where I'll be curating the top stories, the intersection of law and politics. Go to YouTube now and free subscribe at Legal AF MTN that's at Legal AF MTN.