WHOA: Trump-appointed judge DROPS HAMMER on Trump

You're watching The Legal Breakdown.Glenn, we have bad news for Trump at the hands of one of his own judges who he appointed.Can you explain what just happened in this cataclysmic ruling?

Yeah, Brian, this blockbuster ruling is really good news for the American people and for the rule of law more broadly because a Trump appointed judge named William Ray down in Georgia just threw out a mega grand jury subpoena issued by Todd Blanche's dirty DOJ officials seeking the personal private information of thousands and thousands of Georgia state election workers.Judge William Ray, appointed to the federal bench by Trump back in 2018, just ruled that this subpoena does not have a proper purpose and it risks chilling participation in the Georgia elections.And he had some choice words for the DOJ in deciding to abuse the power of the grand jury.But let me give our viewers just a little flavor of what Judge Ray said.I've got the 28 -page ruling here, and the breadth of this subpoena in Judge Ray's estimation is, quote, staggering.Why?

Because what they tried to subpoena are the names, the email addresses, the home addresses, the private phone numbers of the following people.all individuals involved in reviewing mail -in ballots in Fulton County, Georgia, assigned to the Voter Review Board, assigned to mobile voting locations, assigned to transport ballots, assigned to the County Board of Registration and Elections, all workers or volunteers who on Election Day were involved in tabulating ballots, all volunteers who were involved in any recounts, all peoplewho served as precinct managers or assistant precinct managers, and on and on and on.Thousands and thousands of Georgia state election workers.They tried to subpoena the private personal information, including home addresses and private telephone numbers of all of these people.Let me just add a quick footnote here, Brian.

Do you remember what Another Trump lawyer, an associate did, Rudy Giuliani, when he got a hold of information about two Georgia state election workers, Shea Moss and Ruby Freeman.What do you think Donald Trump's dirty DOJ leadership could have done with all of this information?Here is a little bit, just a little bit of what Judge Wray said.He said the breadth of this subpoena is, quote, staggering.He said disclosure of this information would chill participation in future elections.He said everyone, everyone should be concerned about DOJ's ability to utilize the power of the grand jury to appropriate your private information without a legitimate purpose.

In other words, abusing the grand jury power.And finally, he asked the question and he answered it.He asked, quote, Is there anything wrong with the DOJ using the grand jury to subpoena these records from all of these Fulton County election workers?In the court's estimation, the answer is yes.And he quashed a fancy word for threw out, invalidated this mega grand jury subpoena.which in essence was just going to be used to threaten, harass, intimidate, and try to suppress the vote in Fulton County, Georgia.

Try to make people just throw up their hands and say, you know what, if they're going to get all of my private information because I'm just a poll worker or one of thousands of others who try to administer,Georgia state elections, I'm out.I'm not participating.And you know what?I may not even go to the polls and vote.And like I say, Brian, a Trump appointed judge just said, Oh, Hell no.

And he threw that subpoena out.

I'll never paywall a single piece of content, but this is the one time that I'll ask for some support for a book that I really think meets this moment.Thanks so much.

Not directly.

So listen, the Court of Appeals and I guess even atmospherically, I mean, the fact that this wasn't even that this was a bridge too far, even for somebody who Trump himself appointed, like, does does does even atmospherically this you anticipate this will have any impact?

Brian, you're two steps ahead of me.You know, the atmospheric part, I actually think is more important in the court of public opinion, not in the federal circuit court of appeals.But here's the thing.They haven't appealed this yet.They might.It's early on.

They usually have 10 days to file a notice of appeal.But this is one where, and I know you and I have discussed this before, and I know it's going to be one of your future questions, it may be that they decline to appeal this case.Why?Because if the Circuit Court of Appeals, a federal appeals court, affirms this ruling by Judge Wray, guess what?It becomes precedent in all of the courts that operate in this country.in that federal jurisdiction.

So, you know, throwing out a grand jury subpoena, in my experience, is a lot like a magical unicorn.I'd never seen one in my 30 years as a federal prosecutor.Why?Because we don't abuse the power of the grand jury by issuing subpoenas for an improper purpose because dear leader in the Oval Office is angry with somebody.So that's why I've never seen one thrown out.I'm not saying it's never happened, but it almost never happens.

It really is like a unicorn.You almost never see one.But, you know, Judge William Ray decided to saw the legal wood in front of him, called out the abuse of the grand jury being perpetrated by Todd Blanche's dirty Department of Justice leadership.And we'll see if Donald Trump appeals this up to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.If he does, based on what I read in this 28 -page ruling, he will lose.And then we will have precedent that will make it even harder for Donald Trump's dirty DOJ officials to abuse the powers of the grand jury moving forward.

Given the fact that if this is appealed up to the circuit court and they lose, then it becomes binding precedent.Do you think that there's a high likelihood that the Trump administration will kind of play with fire in this sense, given that even a Trump -appointed judge wasn't willing to humor them here?

I don't think they're going to play with fire.My bet, you know I'm not a betting man, not a high roller, I'm not a gambling man.$1 is my betting limit.You know, I'm going to put about 80 cents of my $1 max bet on the Trump administration not being foolish enough to, as you put it, play with fire so they can develop more bad law that will only constrain them from acting nefariously moving forward.And of course, if they do and they lose in the Circuit Court of Appeals, which I almost certainly think they will, Would they try to bubble it up to the Supreme Court and ask the Supreme Court to accept it?case for review?

You know, they might if they've already, you know, in for an appellate penny, in for an appellate pound.They might try to get it all the way up to the Supreme Court.But I'll tell you, if ever, Brian, there was not a constitutional issue involved such that the Supreme Court should have no interest in accepting review of a subpoena issue, whether The federal government, the Department of Justice, the executive branch had a good faith basis to subpoena these thousands of people and get all their personal information collected up when, and this is not something I mentioned up front, but it was another part of Judge Ray's ruling.Even assuming arguendo, which is what we lawyers say when we want to make things sound more complicated than they are, assuming for the sake of argument that some election official committed some crime back in 2020, guess what?It's beyond the statute of limitations.And the judge said, Even hypothetically speaking, if a crime had been committed, you don't have subpoena power over that crime because it can't be indicted, it can't be charged, it can't be prosecuted because it has timed out.

The statute of limitations on any such crime would have expired.So that's like a belt and suspenders ruling by Judge Wray.That is another reason I don't think this thing sees the appellate light of day and certainly not all the way up to the Supreme Court.

Why do you think the Trump administration was so hell bent on trying to get this information from poll workers?What do you think that they were trying to do with it?What could be the worst case scenario here?And I ask that because generally, whatever the most nefarious action this administration could take is the action that they do take.

I think what they were trying to accomplish is intimidation, instilling fear.You know, in a very real sense, this is a threat.We've got your private information now.I know your name.I didn't know it before.I know your home address.

I've got your private phone number now, courtesy of this dirty subpoena.So what does that do?You know, that fear could spread like wildfire through the electorate, through the entire infrastructure of the election system.And it could, as the judge said, deter people from wanting to participate either as, you know, election workers or as voters.But the other thing, let's go an extra nefarious step, because this is Trump and Todd Blanch.We're talking about maybe they bring the country's largest criminal conspiracy indictment ever, and they indict 10 ,000 people.

Georgia state election workers now that they have all their personal information.A case that would be thrown out if only on the statute of limitations challenge, but also on the evidentiary challenge, because I can't imagine thousands of Georgia election workers got together to violate federal law.But when has that ever stopped the Trump administration from seeking indictments against the innocent simply because there was something else to be gained like, you know, chilling participation in elections moving forward.So, yeah, that's probably the absolute worst case scenario.They bring a big old, you know, several thousand strong conspiracy indictment because now they have the information about the people that that they can populate a federal indictment with.

Glenn, it's it's worth asking here, to what extent Does this relate to the fact that the Trump administration seized all of these ballots from Fulton County?Does this invalidate anything?Does this push Donald Trump's plans back?Can you can you talk about the link here?

Yeah, Brian, I think this is where atmospherics come into play, because statesinto granting a search -and -seizure warrant to actually seize, to take from Fulton County, Georgia, all of their ballots.You know, the more evidence that has come out about what was in that affidavit supporting that search -and -seizure warrant, it looks like the judge got snookered because there was nothing in there that Um, lent itself to a determination there was probable cause to believe a crime had been committed and evidence of that crime would be found in the Fulton County ballots.But then, they didn't stop there.Once they got their hands on the ballots, they started wanting to issue these dirty, lawless, improper subpoenas.Now that the judge has shut that down, that will put a real crimp in DOJ's ability to continue to move forward in some kind of a half -baked criminal probe that they claim is warranted by whatever the hell they found in the Fulton County ballots.

If this subpoena is not lawful, is not proper, and it was thrown out by the court, well then it's hard to see where the next step of a nefarious investigation might go in, you know, their determination to support Donald Trump's lies.about the 2020 election being stolen.So this strikes a real blow at any further investigative efforts they may undertake.

All right.Well, we will, of course, stay on top of this.For those who are watching right now, if you'd like to hear more about this news and all other breaking legal news, best way to do that is to subscribe to both of our channels.I'm going to put those links right here on the screen and also in the post description of this video.So if you're not yet subscribed, it's the best way to support our work and independent media more broadly.I'm Brian Tyler Cohen.

And I'm Glenn Kirshner.You're watching The Legal Breakdown.