Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump SECRET Phone Call Revealed, SINKS HIM in Criminal Trial
Episode Date: April 30, 2024Watch Hope Hicks as she “dumps on Trump” at his ongoing NY criminal trial. Michael Popok analyzes a new previously unknown SECRET PHONE CALL set up by Trump among the National Enquirer publisher, ...then White House press secretary and now Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Trump’s Melania-twin and White House coms director Hope Hicks, in which they conspired TO COMMIT MORE ELECTION CRIMES BY PAYING playboy playmate Karen McDougal EVEN MORE MONEY to keep her from doing damage to Trump’s REELECTION bid. 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! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Michael Popak with the Legal AF and Trump on trial hot take.
If there was any doubt that what we're talking about
in New York during the criminal trial
is election interference and an improper campaign benefit
that was given to Donald Trump by the National Enquirer,
by the Catch and Kill program,
all doubt was erased by David Pecker's testimony
about Karen McDougal, the playboy playmate
who had a 10 month affair with Donald Trump
and conversations that took place in the White House
after Donald Trump got elected
because he buried stories like the Karen McDougall affair
from the public and the electorate,
conversations between Sarah Huckabee Sanders,
the then press secretary and her boss, Hope Hicks,
the then White House communications director.
I've said it before, I'm gonna say it again,
keep a close eye on Hope Hicks.
She will be testifying in New York,
and I think she's gonna be as devastating
to Donald Trump's defense
and getting him actually convicted
than even David Pecker because of her credibility
and because she's been and had been with Trump
all the way through the White House and beyond.
I'm gonna talk about it and break it down right here.
David Pecker testified that Donald Trump arranged
after his election a phone call between Hope Hicks, her subordinate in
this case, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who was the press secretary, the one out in front
of the lectern or the podium. And the discussion was Karen McDougal giving a bombshell interview to Anderson Cooper that took place in 2018.
In fact, I'm gonna play a clip for you
so you know, this will be like the highlight clip,
the highlight reel of Karen McDougall.
That rocked the world of Donald Trump.
He was very concerned.
And to show you that the Catch and Kill program,
or as the prosecutors in New York, the Manhattan DA call it,
the Trump Tower Conspiracy,
and the Trump Tower Conspiracy tacit agreement
between Cohen, Michael Cohen, David Pecker,
National Enquirer, Publisher,
and Donald Trump continued beyond the election cycle
into the White House.
Because this interview between Karen McDougall,
when she came clean about her relationship
with Donald Trump to the American public
in a way that Donald Trump never has,
even though she was in a way the victim of all of this,
when that hit in 2018,
this led to the conversation I'm about to describe to you.
Let's listen to the clip first.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I wouldn't want it done to me.
I'm sorry.
You know, he said hello like he would to anybody.
And then throughout the night, it was kind of obvious that there was an attraction from
his part to me.
Our first date, I was told we were going to go to the Beverly Hills Hotel for dinner.
After we had been instrument, he tried to pay me.
And I actually didn't know how to take that.
Did he actually try to hand you money?
He did. I can tell you we saw each other
a minimum five times a month, up to bigger numbers per month. So, over the course of how long?
Over the course of 2006 through I think I ended the relationship April 2007. So, we were together 10 months before I chose to end it.
There was a real relationship there.
There were real feelings between the two of us, not just myself, not just him. There was a real relationship there. I
couldn't wait to get out of the apartment actually. I think doing
something or doing something wrong is bad enough, but when you're doing
something wrong and you're in the middle of somebody else's home or bed or
whatever, that just puts a little stab in your heart. And honestly, if you can tell,
I tried to keep my distance.
I tried to go as far away as I could just because I felt guilty.
I just needed to get out of it.
I, you know, I just needed to get out of it.
It just was tearing me apart.
If Melania Trump is watching this, what would you want her to know?
What can you say except, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Okay, let's hold that.
That hits that rock Trump world.
Trump then gets the old gang back together again, the conspiracy gang, and gets Pecker on a phone call with
his now people that you and I as taxpayers are paying, right?
The White House press secretary, the White House communications director, Hope Hicks,
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, get them on the phone, talk about it.
What was discussed, according to David Pecker and his testimony in the recent New York trial,
he said they talked about extending the agreement
that he had, that he entered into with Karen McDougall
at the demand and command of Donald Trump
to bury her story, right?
They wanted to continue to try to limit the damage,
even though she had already now gone on national television,
international television and given her story.
They wanted to kind of reel her back in.
And so they wanted to extend her, give her more money
to get her to do less damage against Donald Trump
who's now elected, but of course wants to run again
against the future Joe Biden.
And so we have that bombshell testimony.
What does that demonstrate?
That demonstrates the importance of Hope Hicks
when she eventually testifies,
and I'm sure that's coming up soon.
Because she's also gonna testify,
as I said in another hot take,
Hope Hicks is also gonna testify
that she was involved in a conversation
about the initial payments to Karen McDougall,
not just this conversation,
but the initial payments to Karen McDougall
that started with a confidentiality agreement
and buying her story, if you will,
that the National Enquirer only executed,
not to make itself money,
because it was a losing proposition.
And David Pecker said he knew it was an illegal agreement,
but it was done to benefit Donald Trump
as part of the conspiracy among friends,
as David Pecker likes to say.
She's gonna testify she was involved with the initial setting up of the conspiracy among friends, as David Pecker likes to say. She's gonna testify, she was involved
with the initial setting up of the catch and kill program
or the direction of the catch and kill program
towards this new target, Karen McDougall.
She was target number two.
Target number three is Stormy Daniels.
Now we're gonna hear from all of these targets, right?
We're gonna hear from Karen McDougall,
she's gonna testify.
Stormy Daniels, she's gonna testify, right?
Hope Hicks, she's gonna testify.
And then somewhere down the road,
Michael Cohen's gonna testify.
He's what I call a sandwich witness.
Not because I'm hungry,
because he's gonna be sandwiched
between a lot of other people.
He didn't lead off the trial.
He's not gonna end the trial. He's gonna be somewhere in the middle towards the end after
there's been a lot of corroborating witness testimony, right, that will shore
up his credibility. That'll take a little bit of a hit because of his past.
Focus on Hope Hex. Proper sleep can increase focus, boost energy, and improve your mood. Introducing
Beam's Dream Powder, a science-backed healthy hot cocoa for sleep. If you know me, you know
that dream has been a game changer for my sleep, and boy do I need sleep these days. I drink Beam's
Dream Powder each night in order to get my optimal sleep. And I gotta say, I wouldn't be recommending
this if it didn't actually help me.
And today, my listeners get a special discount
on Beams Dream Powder.
They're science-backed, healthy hot cocoa for sleep
with no added sugar.
Better sleep has never tasted better.
Now available in delicious flavors
like chocolate peanut butter,
cinnamon cocoa, and sea salt caramel
with only 15 calories and zero grams of sugar.
Other sleep aids can cause neck stay grogginess, but Dream contains a powerful all-natural blend
of reishi, magnesium, L-theanine, melatonin, and nano CBD to help you fall asleep, stay asleep,
and wake up refreshed. The numbers don't lie. In a clinical study, 93% of participants reported dream
helped them get better sleep.
Beam dream is easy to add to your nighttime routine.
Just mix dream into hot water or milk froth
and enjoy before bed.
Find out why Forbes and the New York Times
are all talking about Beam and why it's trusted
by the world's top athletes and business professionals.
If you wanna try Beam's best-selling dream powder,
get up to 40% off for a limited time
when you go to shopbeam.com slash LegalAF
and use code LegalAF at checkout.
That's shopbeam.com slash LegalAF
and use code LegalAF for up to 40% off.
Now, let me tell you what Pecker testified to at trial
about the Karen McDougall and this very new phone call
that we just heard about for the first time in trial.
He said he testified that he had concerns, Pecker,
about the legality of paying to kill a story
concerning a political candidate,
that even he thought he was giving an in-kind contribution,
unreported, undisclosed at amounts higher
than were allowed by federal election law
to a candidate by running a program for him,
a PR program for him.
He also said, Pecker said that he knew
that the deal with McDougall was illegal
and he wouldn't have entered into that agreement
if it wasn't for Trump's benefit.
That kills Trump's, whatever his version of the story is.
Oh, it's just hush money, who cares?
No, it's business record fraud
coupled with election interference,
which is a classy felony in New York.
Pecker said he intended to kill McDougal's story
so it did not hurt Trump's campaign. He was aware, this is what he testified to, that corporations
making campaign expenditures in coordination with a campaign without
disclosing them was unlawful. He also testified to the Federal Election
Commission in 2018 about these very issues. To reimburse the money to
McDougal, Pecker said he used an outside service
to facilitate the payment.
He said he did this because he did not want
the finance department of the Inquirer's parent company
to receive money inbound from the Trump Organization
or Cohen, because it would have raised a lot of questions.
In other words, if they used the National Inquirer
to money launder the payments directly to Karen McDougall,
it would have raised a lot of red flags.
Even the National Enquirer has a compliance department,
has an anti-money laundering policies,
has know your customer policies,
has a Bank Secrecy Act policies in place,
Patriot Act policies in place.
Right, we couldn't take the money in directly.
This is all money laundering to cover up election crimes.
That's what we're hearing in the testimony from Pecker.
And as to McDougall,
or as Trump used to refer to her, Karen,
just to show you how the fruit
of the illegal tacit agreement continues to carry through as a golden thread, if you will,
all the way through to the White House and beyond is that Donald Trump constantly asked
Pecker, according to his testimony, how's Karen doing? How's Karen doing? How's Karen doing?
Pecker testified that when Trump would inquire about McDougal, and then Pecker would say,
she's quiet. This was in 2017. And when Karen
McDougal stopped being quiet and she started in a hashtag me too environment to regain her dignity
and tell her story, that led to the conversation that Pecker testified that we've heard about for
the first time here in the trial of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a shining light in the MAGA right-wing Republican
party who's now the governor of Alabama who thinks she's going to be in the White House one day.
Listen to these sullied hands, these dirty hands of hers and Hope Hicks, right? The millennial
look-alike. There's so many millennial look-alikes around Donald Trump. I mean, seriously, I'm sure there are psychological study
podcasts not named Legal AF that are qualified to talk
about how many people in Donald Trump's life
look like Melania.
Hope Hicks being one of them.
He's got another aide who's in the courtroom right now
who looks, walks, talks, and dresses like Melania.
Alina Abba, compare her to Melania.
Donald Trump has a thing for good-looking people,
male and female.
One of the working theories that my podcast host,
Ben Mycelis, has is the reason that he doesn't go
after Judge Mershon directly is because he thinks
he's quote, a good looking man.
We'll leave that for another hot take and another podcast.
I'm focused on Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Hope Hicks.
Watch Hope Hicks and listen to everything she has to say.
It'll be against her will.
It'll be like pulling teeth.
She doesn't want to be there,
but she's going to have to tell the truth
because there's enough documents and information
and emails and WhatsApps and corroborating testimony.
Believe me, the Manhattan DA would not put her on the stand
if they didn't think that she would be forceful
in her proving certain data points that they need
in advance of Michael Cohen's testimony.
A lot of what is going on here is triangulation or
orienting the jury to get ready and conditioned for Michael Cohen. I'm not
saying Michael Cohen's the most important witness that they're going to
put on. He's not. He does have some secret recorded tapes that I'm sure will
blow the jury's mind when they're played between him and Donald Trump. That's for
sure. Where Donald Trump admits that he's participating
in this illegal conspiracy to pay off people
like Stormy Daniels in cash, as he likes to put it.
That's gonna be a riveting day in the courtroom
when they dim the lights ever so slightly
and they roll the video, sorry, the audio.
Now there's text messages and WhatsApps
because these people couldn't stop texting
and communicating, right?
That's all gonna support Michael Cohen's testimony.
Other people's testimony supports Michael Cohen's testimony.
David Pecker, who is the only,
there's only three people in the conspiracy, right?
Cohen, Pecker, and Trump, two out of the three
are gonna testify and dump on Trump.
Sounds like a perverse Dr. Seuss book. They're gonna dump. It's time to dump on Trump
And that's what they're gonna do and even ones that are unwilling or are not there willingly like Rana
Rana Graff his longtime assistant Donald Trump's longtime 35 year assistant. She dumped on him too. She had to
For the small items that she had to testify to
to set up future witness testimony like Michael Cohen.
We're gonna continue to follow all of it right here.
Unvarnished, no smoke, no sunshine being blown here
on Legal AF and on the Midas Touch Network.
If you like what I'm doing, leave me a comment
and a thumbs up.
We'll keep it coming to you with this kind of content.
And then you can follow me and others on Legal AF
like Karen Friedman-Ikniflo and Ben Mysales
on Legal AF the podcast.
That's every Wednesday and Saturday at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
You wanna know why we call it Legal AF
at the intersection of law and politics?
Come join us, we'll tell you.
You can probably guess.
And then you can pick us up on audio podcast platforms,
wherever you get your audio podcasts from.
And then I do hot takes like this, I don't know,
about every hour, every day on the Midas Touch Network,
go over to the Midas Touch YouTube channel,
free subscribe, get them the three million,
we're building this network with you,
we don't have outside investors,
you are the change you've been looking for.
And then go over to my playlist.
If you like my body of work,
look for Michael Popak contributor playlists
and you'll see about, I don't know, 1200 hot takes
listed there.
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
into the important legal concepts you need to know
and we discuss every day on Legal AF.
Exclusive content you won't find anywhere else,
all for the price of a couple of cups of coffee.
Join us at patreon.com slash Legal AF.
That's patreon.com slash Legal AF.