Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump TOO SCARED of Federal Judge Consequences and GIVES UP
Episode Date: September 29, 2023Trump has waived the white flag in Georgia, and has agreed to keep his criminal conspiracy case with state court Judge McAfee, ending his efforts to take the case to federal court. Michael Popok of Le...gal AF explains that Trump is scared that the federal judge assigned to the case will not only deny the attempt to move the case, but will also write a terrible order against him. He’d rather try his luck with the Georgia Supreme Court on appeal. Get up to 40% off for a limited time when you go to https://shopbeam.com/LEGALAF to try Beam's best-selling Dream Powder! Visit https://meidastouch.com for more! 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 MAGA Uncovered: https://pod.link/1690214260 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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This is Michael Popok, legal AF.
You know what this is?
This is Donald Trump waving the white flag in Georgia.
He is now told the judge there, Scott McAfee, that he is not going to take his case or
try to take his case to federal court in front of Judge Jones. I'll tell you why in a minute. He's just content
to stay with Judge McAfee for his trial, which is going to be in the probably first quarter
of 2024 as part of 19 trials. The Judge McAfee is presiding over for Fulton County District Attorney, Fawni Willis's
criminal Rico racketeering organized crime case with Donald Trump at the middle.
See, we always thought that Donald Trump would at least make an effort to get out from under
state court and how fast that's moving.
That's like a meat grinder in the hands of Fawni Willis on one side of the handle and Scott McAfee, the
judge, frankly, on the other, churning and burning through all sorts of settings and dates.
I mean, there's a trial in about three weeks of two of the 19 one being Ken Chessboro
and the other being Sydney Powell, two of Donald Trump's lawyers.
I mean, he'll get to see that trial.
So we always thought he wanted to hide tail it over to federal court, maybe take the case with him.
But Donald Trump, A, will pass up an opportunity to try to brown nose a judge
because he wrote in the paper that just got filed, I'm staying here, judge,
because we have a lot of faith that we'll get justice and do process with you presiding over it.
Okay, let's unpack that until the real story.
Donald Trump has seen the ghost of Christmas future and he doesn't want to go there.
Federal judge Jones is the gatekeeper in Georgia for anybody trying to get out of Scott McAfee's
courtroom and get over to federal court. So far, to have tried, right? And Donald Trump would be the third. It's like Mad Max.
Two men enter. No man leaves. First man that tried to enter was Mark Meadows, Chief of Staff.
All right. We figured he had a 50-50 shot. It may be pulling that off. Former Chief of Staff
arguing that he's a federal officer, arguing that he was within the rights and duties
of his responsibilities as that federal officer
and that he had federal defenses.
That's what you have to prove
to get what's called federal officer removal.
Mark Meadows even testified on his own behalf.
We were a guest.
We never saw that coming because that could be a waiver
of his Fifth Amendment rights
in the case. Certainly anything that he says under oath, Fawney Willis and Jack Smith,
the special counsel or special prosecutor could use against them. So he's not that foolish as he,
he wouldn't risk it all for that. He did. Any probably perjure himself along the way. And judge
Jones in a very good opinion that's up on appeal now with the 11 circuit
said, yeah, you're a federal officer, but everything that you did that's a lead to the
indictment is clearly outside the scope of your job description as chief of staff. Good
day, sir. Go back to state court where you belong. Now, that's up on appeal with the 11
circuit. But the three judge panel, the 11th Circuit that Mark Menos has pulled are
all either Obama or Biden appointees, and there is no way he's going to be winning that appeal.
So next up into the Steel Cage match of the federal court with Judge Jones is Jeff Clark.
Jeff Clark, number five associate attorney general, maybe was Attorney General for 10 minutes.
The last four days of the administration also indicted, of course, in Georgia.
He argues, I was Attorney General or Assistant or Deputy Attorney General.
I was involved with election interference.
So the letters I wrote to interfere were part of my job description.
And he didn't even testify, even though he had the burden of proof to prove this. He didn't even bother showing up. He just sent in,
he literally phoned it in. He just sent in pieces of paper with his name on the bottom
that he signed and an expert opinion that judge took took look at the pieces of paper
and said, where's where's the party? Where's Mr. Clark? And he hasn't ruled yet. But based
on our reporting of what happened at that
hearing, Jeff Clark's going to lose and he's going to have to go back to state court as
well.
So Donald Trump is watching this, right?
And he's watching Jones, who's who's not favorable to any of these federal defenses or federal
arguments.
And Donald Trump's got to remember, and at least as lawyers do, that is recently as this
past summer in May at the top of the summer, he tried to take Donald Trump tried this trick
before, right?
And it failed miserably in front of billions of people watching.
He is prosecuted. People might forget because we haven't
talked about it a while. He's prosecuted in Manhattan by the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin
Bragg for the Stormy Daniels hush money cover up a fair business record fraud in New York.
He wanted to get away from Judge Mershon. A judge who's a very good judge, excellent judge used
to be in the Manhattan DA's office didn't like Judge Mershon for a judge who's a very good judge, excellent judge used to be in the Manhattan
DA's office didn't like Judge Mershon for whatever reason because he doesn't like him.
And he thinks he's a Democrat and he's going to vote against him or he's going to rule against
him. And so he did two things. He tried to disqualify Judge Mershon. That sounds familiar.
That's right. That's right in the playbook for Donald Trump. That failed. And then he
tried to take the case under federal removal authority over
to federal court. And he got assigned randomly a judge from the Clinton administration, Judge
Hellerstein and Judge Hellerstein, you know, stroked his chin and reviewed the papers
and held a hearing. And then he then he wrote a 30 page decision outlining why all of the
crimes that Donald Trump is
alleged to have committed couldn't possibly be part of his job description as a federal
officer, right?
He even said in there at one point, and I paraphrase, having an affair, a sexual affair
and covering up is not part of your job duties, constitutionally or otherwise as president
of the United States.
Donald Trump already saw that.
And I assume knowing that he pulled somebody
who's probably got the same sentimentality,
if you will, as Judge Hallerstein,
that Donald Trump would not only fail,
he wouldn't testify in front of him,
so there wouldn't be any evidence.
He wouldn't really be able to submit affidavits.
It would be left with lawyer argument. And I presume the new argument, the new lawyer for
Donald Trump said, you know what happened up in New York when Judge Hellerstein wrote
that 30 page opinion of describing how you were outside the scope of your presidency. He's
going to do it again. This judge Jones going to do it again. That's not good for us.
You know, let's just stay here here with the judge that we know,
judge McAfee.
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You know, the reason people might be wondering, why are they even trying to go to federal
court?
One of it was delay.
Although you see federal courts are moving kind of more rapidly now.
Anyway, like Judge Chuckkin set the trial for the Jack Smith sprawling election interference
case and all that to be to start in March, right?
First quarter, 2024.
So that's happening.
So you're not going to really get that.
And then the other thought process was maybe the jury pool was a little more expansive
because, you know, Atlanta is very blue, but, you know, it's very blue whether you expand
it or not.
It's a democratic city, and it's unlikely that he's going to get many truppers in there.
That was a second for a third thought was he would have some sort of federal defenses
and arguments, including this maybe this supremacy clause of the Constitution and other immunity clauses,
immunity defenses, and that would be better handled through the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in
Atlanta also, and then maybe straight to the Supreme Court. But the reality of that is the 11th
Circuit has not been kind to Donald Trump. They rejected all of his appeals and almost laughed as lawyers out of court to different
panels of the 11th circuit in the Mar-a-Lago case.
He has not done well at the 11th circuit in any of his arguments or any of his election
cases.
And frankly, even though it's Mago right wing appointed judges on the Supreme Court,
they don't generally sigh with Donald Trump on executive privilege or, you know, his presidency
or his presidential powers at all either.
So he's got to think, well, what am I getting?
I'm not going to win.
Jones is going to write a terrible opinion about me.
It's going to set bad precedent for the future.
The 11 circuits and that hasn't been kind to me either.
And the Supreme's are at best unreliable.
I assume this is at least the thought process
by the lawyers for Donald Trump, if not Donald Trump himself.
And so he figured, let me get a little mileage
at a stroking the judge, which is what he literally,
not literally, sorry, that sounds gross,
figuratively did.
And telling the judge, we'll stay with you,
you're honorable, you'll do the right job.
I can get justice with you.
Now, that's until Judge McAfee makes a ruling that Donald Trump doesn't like because
right now it's a little bit up in the air as to when Donald Trump and which batch he's
going to be in for the for the trials led by Fony Willis.
We know two of the 19 are going in like three weeks.
But the other 17, the judge has said,
you're not trying them all together, Miss Willis,
I appreciate the earnestness of being ready for trial,
but I can't handle it logistically.
So you need to come back to me with a plan.
So Fony hasn't yet, she's gotten one thing,
she's gotten her anonymous
jury to protect them from Donald Trump. But she doesn't know yet when she hasn't proposed
yet when Donald Trump would go. I assume it'll be in the first batch in the first quarter.
Maybe she tries to slide it into February, but she hasn't approached the judge on that yet.
I assume she's going to try to do, you know, five, five, you know, and whatever's left over
Like three batches. I don't think she tries Donald Trump by himself. I
Think it's Donald Trump. It's she'll hand pick a couple of other people. Maybe it's Trump
Let's think of this think of this combination think of this table in a restaurant Donald Trump
Rudy Giuliani. Oh, thisiani, this would be classic.
And then she pulls like another crazy to sit next to them as well and puts that little team of
that little ball of sunshine together in front of a jury in Atlanta. She is being strategic about
who she's going to argue should be tried together in one batch. And then watch Donald Trump try to squirm his way.
I don't wanna be with Rudy.
I wanna be with my own, I wanna pick my own
in one of these fake electors, baby, who I don't know.
Something like that.
That's what's gonna happen.
But we're not there yet.
And so where we are right now is Donald Trump
as of today is not gonna take any steps.
He's waving the white flag.
He's gonna stay in state court.
He's gonna stay with Judge McAfee. He'll start criticizing Judge McAfee as soon as he doesn't
like the ruling and start attacking him. Although, I don't know, a white 30 something year old
federalist society Republican appointed judge. Sounds a lot like Judge Cannon in the pair of pants.
That's a lot like Judge Cannon in the parapants, but the judge down in Florida. But as of right now, on legal AF, and the leaders of legal AF, me and Ben Mysalis and
Karen Friedman, Igniflo, we've had admiring things to say about Scott McAfee as a brand
new judge.
He runs a tight ship.
He makes decisions quickly, but with intellectual honesty and intellectual heft, um, doesn't seem
to be at all infused with any political leanings one way or the other. I mean, he was the chief
Boy Scout for the state of Georgia. He was the, the, the inspector general for the state.
And he's not a Trumpian. He's a champion. He was appointed by, uh, by, uh, camp, uh, the
governor of Georgia, who's no fan or friend of Donald
Trump.
Again, I'm not praising camp.
I know people are like, but Kim's terrible.
He is on policy.
But on a couple of things, he's been on the right side of justice.
He stopped the attempted impeachment and removal of Fony Willis by refusing to call a special
session of the, of the session of the House of Georgia.
That's a good thing.
And he's done other stuff that's so far,
including testifying against Donald Trump in these cases.
So let's put him aside for another hot take.
Take away, here is,
Donald Trump is stuck with the rest.
It'll be up to Fony Willis to figure out who's going to be his seat mates at what table
during a future trial in front of Scott McAfee that's going to take place sometime in 2024.
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